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COLLECTION

Flower Vendor — ellis wilson

THE

COLLECTION

Published for THE ANACOSTIA NEIGHBORHOOD MUSEUM
In cooperation with the BARNETT-ADEN GALLERY
By the SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION PRESS
City of Washington 1974

January 20-May 6, 1974 Anacostia Neighborhood Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
January 10-February 9, 1975 Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Publication supported in part by grants from
MCDONALD’S CORPORATION, IRWIN-SWEENEY-MILLER FOUNDATION, and from
THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents
United States Government Printing Office
Washington, D. C. 20402
Stock number: 4 703-00028

CONTENTS

page

Foreword

Introduction

Tribute to the Barnett- Aden Collection
Historical Notes
A Brief History of Afro-American Art
Thoughts on Black Art
Catalog of the Collection
Tributes to the Founders of the Barnett- Aden Gallery

Artists in the Collection
Selected Bibliography
Board of Directors of the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum
Staff of the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum

Index

9 John R. Kinard
11 Adolphus Ealey
15 Roy Slade
17 Romare Bearden
19 Carolyn Margolis
23
31

153 Romare Bearden
Albert J. Carter
David C. Driskell
Sam Gilliam
Carroll Greene , Jr.

Jacob Lawrence
I. Rice Pereira

Lois Mailou Jones Pierre-Noel
Theodoros Stamos
Alma W. Thomas
Larry Erskine Thomas
James L. Wells
Charles White
163
185

187

188
189

FOREWORD

the barnett-aden collection reflects the talents
and the concerns of an exciting group of artists, many of
whom are Afro-Americans. The fact that this important
Collection exists demonstrates, unquestionably, that
even under the brutal and dehumanizing institution of
slavery, the culture of black people, transported across
the vast waters in the holds of slave ships, did not die.
Further, it demonstrates the startling potentialities and
the great reservoir of untapped history and culture
stored in the souls of black folk. If this creative genius is
used to benefit the masses of black people still thirsting
for our cultural past, ultimately it will provide signifi¬
cant building blocks which will insure the continuity of
our civilization down through the ages for countless
generations yet unborn.

The creative spirit, if inspired, is capable of making
life truly worthwhile. Creativity unleashed can bring
about unity and can enhance our accomplishments.

Culture and religion bind us together, awaken our
creative spirits, set us free to make come true the
impossible dream, to bring forth the new idea, to re¬
vere the past and the time of our fathers, and to give
birth to an unlimited, unfettered future.

It is both fitting and proper that this exhibition was
shown, understood, and appreciated in the environment
of Anacostia, for it was in a community very much like
ours that Alonzo Aden dreamed his dream and saw the
need to establish the Barnett- Aden Gallery in his home
in Northwest Washington, D.C. It was there that he
collected and exhibited this great art for all people.
The inspiration which created many of these works
grew out of the seemingly unimportant and uneventful
daily lives of people in other Anacostias of this Nation.

By the late 1920s and the early 1930s the creative
genius of black folk had been unleashed. Writers in¬

fluenced painters and sculptors, and song writers in¬
fluenced poets and playwrights; collectively, they pro¬
duced works of enduring quality which continue to
enrich our daily existence and place it in its proper
historical perspective.

If this museum has a reason for being, it is to mirror
and reflect the total black experience in America. Thus
it is that we publish this catalog.

The Barnett-Aden Collection comprises the creative
genius of a people struggling to be free, of a people who
used the visual arts to communicate our years of
'wandering in the wilderness,” our longings, our
fears, and our aspirations. This catalog is being pub¬
lished to help awaken the creative spirit and the hopes
of yet another generation. The Collection does not
exist without meaning, nor are we who have viewed
it — some with nostalgic memories and some for the
first time — existing as meaningless objects set in
motion with a breath of air. There is much for all of
us to do. The destruction of the human spirit, the fear
that cripples and distorts the reality of our existence
ought not continue to stifle and constrict our creativity.

Many are unaware of the tangible and meaningful
contributions of black Americans; blind ignorance sup¬
poses that nothing has been achieved and that black
Americans are devoid of a cultural heritage and, there¬
fore, bereft of creative instincts and abilities. Others,
wanting to be less harsh in their judgment, will admit
that experimentation with the art forms is beginning;
however, they describe our renderings as childlike, not
good art, and dismiss it as being of poor quality.

The false notion that has prevailed, which causes
creators of art to legitimatize themselves by adhering
to established and sometimes false standards, has dis¬
couraged, damaged, and corrupted many of our most

promising and talented individuals. It has caused some
to paint what is fashionable or salable in the market¬
place, thus rendering the artist sterile and impotent,
and denying him the fulfillment and joy that comes
from creativity and freedom of expression.

Art is not something limited to austere, imposing
environments, neither is it exclusively the province of
the gifted, talented, or wealthy. Art is communication,
ideas, messages, beauty, love, hope, despair, poverty,
and one is moved to respond when touched by its
energizing impulse.

We are indebted to the founders of the Barnett-
Aden Gallery, Mr. James V. Herring and Mr. Alonzo

Aden, for being the painters, scholars, curators, and
humanitarians that they were. With the founding of this
institution in the Washington, D.C., community, they
helped to provide a positive climate for young artists,
many of whom were their colleagues and students, and
they encouraged and nurtured talents which otherwise
might have been lost to us.

It is my good pleasure to commend Mr. Adolphus
Ealey, Director of the Barnett-Aden Gallery, for his
generous compassion and cooperation with the staff of
the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum in making this
catalog possible.

John R. Kinard, Director

INTRODUCTION

THE BARNETT-ADEN GALLERY Opened with its first

show on October 16, 1943, in a small row house in
Washington, D.C. The exhibition was entitled “Amer¬
ican Paintings for the Home.” The objectives of this
show were many. Most important was to bring the art
into the community, within reach of the entire public.
Housed in the residence of its founders, Professor
James V. Herring and Mr. Alonzo J. Aden, the Gallery
opened its doors with a commitment to educate and
inspire its visitors. The men who stood behind this
propitious venture were more than equal to the task.
Professor Herring founded the art department at
Howard University in 1922 and had been chairman for
some twenty years. Alonzo Aden had ten years of
dedicated service as curator of the Howard University
Gallery of Art. With an academic and art background
quite rare at that time for most blacks, they set the
stage for culture and impeccable taste in their com¬
munity.

At a time when the fine arts were considered almost
the exclusive property of the upper-class, the “edu¬
cated,” and “privileged,” the creation of the Barnett-
Aden Gallery certainly represented a bold step forward.
Most Afro-American artists could not find galleries to
show their works. Realizing that there were so many
gifted artists hidden in obscurity as a result of open
prejudice and bigotry, Mr. Herring sought to maintain
a Gallery of truly democratic practices. The Barnett-
Aden Gallery welcomed artists of every race and
creed. The only criterion was talent, based solely on the
quality of one's work. Many artists were brought into
the area for their first solo exhibition. Such now-
famous artists as I. Rice Pereira, Theodoros Stamos,
Lois Mailou Jones, Alma Thomas, Charles White, and
Jack Perlmutter, to mention a few, had their roots here.

From the very beginning, an important objective of
the Gallery has been to collect and preserve as much
art as possible, with a view that some day black Amer¬
icans would have need to demonstrate their history
and to correct the many misnomers and stereotypes
clouding their past. Works from the late 1800s were
brought into the Collection; painters such as Henry O.
Tanner, Edward Bannister, and Malvin Gray Johnson
received the recognition befitting their accomplish¬
ments. Awareness of the rape of Africa of her priceless
sculpture and crafts by foreigners made it imperative
for Afro-Americans to start protecting their new her¬
itage in this country. Inspired by the historical research
already begun in this area by Alain Locke and James
Porter, many Afro-Americans recognized the impor¬
tance of their history in reference to future generations
yet unborn. It was within this context that the Bamett-
Aden Gallery initiated its program to build resources
for those interested in preservation and research.

The eventual success of the Gallery became evident
when it was first chartered in 1947. From that time to
the present, it has been a recognized cultural institu¬
tion dedicated to the preservation of the fine arts. The
early years of this institution were not without difficul¬
ties, owing primarily to a lack of substantial financial
support. In spite of the inevitable growing pains,
Herring and Aden managed to keep the Gallery alive.
To do this, they were in no small measure indebted to
the aid of a number of personal friends, such as Dr.
and Mrs. Cecil Marquez, Mrs. Laura Carson, and Miss
Alma Thomas, to name only a few. The Barnett-Aden
Gallery forged ahead, setting the stage for a young
and culturally energetic community. New trends were
established for artists and patrons alike.

In fact, it was becoming increasingly important to

encourage the development of black talent. This was
an important consideration in the formative years but
never became an exclusive commitment. Our pioneers
never lost sight of the fact that good art has no racial
boundaries. This conviction suggested a number of
imperatives. Afro-American artists had to eliminate
the stereotypes through which they had been tradi¬
tionally seen. Historians had to interpret the black
element correctly into the national whole. Black and
white artists had to drop double standards of per¬
formance in order to produce a truly national art. For,
as long as black artists were judged by special stan¬
dards, they would remain forever segregated from the
mainstream. Well-meaning tributes would continue to
be in vogue and patronizing. Artists, after all, instinc¬
tively find common denominators for human feelings
within widely varying circumstances and environ¬
ments. Ethnic or genre subject matter must be judged
upon artistic standards of excellence, disregarding the
particular racial, social, or economic background from
which it happens to be inspired. In short, we are
forced to realize a complete democracy in American
art.

The objectives of the Barnett- Aden Gallery today
are congruent with those of the past — to encourage
the development of a true American art where all
people are fairly represented with respect and dignity.
The Collection now contains as many works by white
artists as it does by blacks. For the gallery existed as a
crossroads for rich and poor, the famous as well as the
unexposed. Students, scholars, educators, and laborers
flocked to its openings. Eleanor Roosevelt was a
frequent patron, who spent many hours viewing the
works on display. The exhibits represented a broad
sample of cultures, including art from as far away as
Africa and Asia. Today the Collection exists as an
archive of valuable works by people who have become
known and respected throughout the world.

Without the landscapes of Robert Duncanson, the

portraits of Joshua Johnston, and the many canvases
of Edward Bannister, one could be led to think that
in the past the Afro-American’s contributions were few
and almost nil in the graphic and plastic arts. How¬
ever, this has been greatly disproved by the uncovered
legacies of Colonial art. In every era of American
histoiy, the Afro-American artist reflected his views
on the social, economic, and spiritual moods of the
country. His purposes may not have been to docu¬
ment history, but perhaps only to capture a part of his
environment as he saw it. Today, however, works of art
by the Afro-American represent the pages lost from our
Nation’s total history. It is our duty to place these pages
into their proper context in our historical archives in
order to give the world a completely true picture of
America and its people. It is imperative to grant the
Afro-American the opportunity to research and re¬
illustrate his neglected history and culture. Who can
better interpret his tribulations and joys than he?

Art, by and large, is the spiritual utterance of a
people, a reflection of their essence. Our primary duty
is to know ourselves, and it will follow from this that
our own artistic tradition will be of greater concern to
us. Today, artists are the greatest eclectics of all time.
They realize that there have been and that there are
great civilizations, great artistic traditions besides their
own and do not hesitate to borrow and share thoughts
from them. We must acknowledge that all things are
interrelated and that they nourish one another. It is
obvious that all cultures are interwoven. How can one
look at certain works by Picasso or Modigliani and not
feel the spirit of the African influence in it? With the
advantage of hindsight, men can now view the future
with more understanding and realistic attitudes.

We hope that the works of art in this Collection will
open up your eyes and souls to a great tradition of
Afro-American art extending as far back as the late
1800s.

The exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution’s Ana-

costia Neighborhood Museum was greatly received
and was extended for two additional months. It was
viewed by more than twenty thousand visitors from
many parts of the country and abroad. The showing
received massive coverage from art critics and the
news media.

The most memorable paintings in this memorable show
function, in the present, not just as works of art or things of
beauty, but as records of their times ... For this reason, this
show should not be missed ... It documents powerfully and
precisely a variety of ethnic attitudes shared by black and white
artists a quarter century ago ... A collection soaked with
history.

The Washington Post , January 18, 1974
Paul Richards

I should like to express my sincere appreciation to
the entire staff of the Anacostia Neighborhood Mu¬
seum for their most helpful collaboration in assem¬
bling the exhibition and this catalog. A very special
thanks is extended to Ms. Carolyn Margolis for plan¬
ning and research and to Mr. James E. Mayo for
designing and assembling the exhibition. They are to
be especially congratulated for conceiving the idea
for this show several years ago. I should also like to
thank Mr. Michael Fischer for his expertise in photo¬
graphing a major portion of the Collection for this
catalog. Mr. Arthur Wright, Dr. Jon R. Jordon, and Mr.
Edward J. Bums, Jr., edited and cataloged and gave
endless support to the Collection, to them I am also
grateful.

Last but not least, I should like to express my
deepest thanks and appreciation to the director of the
Smithsonian s Anacostia Neighborhood Museum, Mr.
John R. Kinard. His concern for and assistance to the
Barnett-Aden Gallery have been endless. It is to this
friend and man of all seasons that this catalog is
dedicated.

Adolphus Ealey, Director

BARNETT-ADEN GALLERY

TRIBUTE TO THE BARNETT-ADEN COLLECTION

THE CORCORAN gallery of art is delighted to be
involved with the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum in
the presentation of the Barnett-Aden Collection. The
Corcoran Gallery and the Anacostia Museum are both
committed to the community and to the furtherance
of culture within the city.

The Barnett-Aden Collection is important in many
ways. The Barnett-Aden Gallery contributed much to
the community. The Gallery, although involved with
black art, encouraged all artists in the city, many of
whom had their first show with the Barnett-Aden
Gallery. The unique Collection is of major importance,
an inspiration to all artists, particularly black artists,
who through art have communicated and expressed
so much.

The Corcoran Gallery of Art wishes every success to
the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum exhibition and
looks forward to showing another selection of work
from the Barnett-Aden Collection later, for the works
of art should be seen by as many people as possible.
In fact, the Collection needs to be housed in a perma¬
nent gallery so that all constantly can share and enjoy
the Collection and the achievements of the artists. The
Corcoran Gallery of Art wishes all concerned well in
the venture of presenting and promoting the Barnett-
Aden Collection.

Roy Slade, Director

January 3, 1974 corcoran gallery of art

Eva - ELDZIER CORTOR

HISTORICAL NOTES

EDWARD bannister came to the Philadelphia Expo¬
sition to receive an award for his prize-winning oil,
Under the Oaks , which was among the art works ex¬
hibited at the 1876 Centennial. He was rudely asked
to move from the line of award winners. It was incon¬
ceivable to the attendants not only that a black man
could be a painter but also that he could be one of
the leading artists of that time. Bannister was indeed
an outstanding painter. In his native Providence,
Rhode Island, he was frequently consulted on prob¬
lems of esthetics and craft by fellow artists. The
Providence Art Club, a prestigious organization, was
founded in his studio. At his death, his colleagues con¬
tributed to erect a large gravestone that incorporated
his palette and favorite pipe.

Yet there are few museums or galleries where the
works of Bannister can be seen. This is true for many
Afro-American artists. Few persons realize there were
black painters, sculptors, and graphic artists even
before the Revolutionary War. Scipio Moorhead, a
mid-eighteenth century Boston painter, was celebrated
in the poetry of Phillis Wheatley — the first Afro-
American poetess. Although no known works of Moor¬
head exist, there are a growing number of canvases by
Joshua Johnston, who did portraits of many leading
citizens of Baltimore during the years from 1790 until
approximately 1830. But even now, a museum director
has taken the paintings of Johnston in his custody
from the gallery walls, because he wants more evi¬
dence that Johnston was a Negro, or, in fact, ever
existed.

Other leading black artists of the nineteenth century
studied in Europe, including Robert Duncanson, an
excellent landscape painter; Edmonia Lewis, the first
black woman to become a professional artist in this

country; Eugene Warburg, a New Orleans sculptor;
and the great Henry O. Tanner. With the exception of
Duncanson, these artists spent most of their artistic
lives in Europe. They found in Europe a place con¬
genial to the development of their art and their
careers.

In 1897, a painting by Tanner was awarded a Gold
Medal at the Paris Salon. The work was purchased by
the French government, a great achievement that had
been accorded Whistler, Sargent, and only a few other
American artists. Tanner was almost immediately
recognized on an international level. Interestingly,
Booker T. Washington visited Tanner not long after¬
wards and tried to persuade him to return to the
United States. Washington felt that Tanner was the
one painter capable of depicting the lives of black
people in a truly dignified, artistic manner. But Wash¬
ington came to realize Tanner's sincerity and his
desire to develop his art in Europe and in relation to a
definite religious imagery.

During the 1920s, great changes in the entire struc¬
ture of American society occurred. Largely as a result
of a growing libertarianism, interest in the character
and the lives of black people found increasing expres¬
sion in the literature and graphic arts of a period often
identified as the Jazz Age. For the first time, groups of
Afro-Americans emerged in all the arts. Richmond
Barthe, Palmer Hayden, William H. Johnson, Malvin
Gray Johnson, Lois Mailou Jones, Archibald Motley,
James Porter, Augusta Savage, and Hale Woodruff were
an integral part of the outpouring of talent and energy
that has come to be known as the Negro Renaissance.

Ironically, however, it was during the Depression
years that black artists appeared in considerable num¬
ber. The Federal Art Projects gave artists an oppor-

tunity to practice their craft and to be paid for doing
so. For black artists this was the chance, so to speak,
of a lifetime. On the projects the artists gained valu¬
able esthetic and technical information and were able
to meet and discuss common concerns with fellow
artists, compensating for a real schooling most black
artists could not afford. Charles Alston, Elizabeth Cat¬
lett, Ernest Crichlow, Richard Dempsey, Beauford
Delaney, Jacob Lawrence, Norman Lewis, and Charles
White are among the fine talents to first gain recogni¬
tion during the turbulent 1930s.

Since World War II, black artists have proliferated.
They are contributing to every aspect of contemporary
art. But I might suggest that Washington, D.C., is for¬
tunate in having Lucille Roberts (Malkia) and Alma
Thomas. These two ladies of rich talent may share a few

years between them, but their paintings retain as
youthful a vigor and outlook as any of their younger
colleagues.

I can conclude with the observation that the Bar-
nett-Aden Gallery was one of the few places where
black painters, sculptors, and graphic artists could
come to exhibit their works for a period of almost
twenty years, up until the 1960s. Beyond this, Mr.
Aden and Mr. Herring, as pioneers, must be credited
with having preserved, often through times of real
adversity, a Collection of art works of value in the
history of Afro-American artists — indeed, of American
artists. This exhibit then is a tribute to their effort,
their belief, and their integrity.

Romare Bearden

A BRIEF HISTORY OF AFRO-AMERICAN ART

the black man was snatched from his African home¬
land, where he had produced sculptural works of great
beauty and technical excellence that had deep spiritual
meaning. He was brought to the eastern seaboard of
this country as early as 1619, when 20 black indentured
servants arrived at Jamestown. The conditions of slav¬
ery left the black with little time for artistic creativity.
Those who were able to produce works of art were
usually craftsmen working as potters, blacksmiths,
weavers, carpenters, and seamstresses to provide homes,
furniture, utensils, and clothing for their white master.
Because of slavery, blacks were kept faceless and un¬
known; they seldom received credit for what they
produced.

In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries,
there were two main types of black artists. The first
kind was the self-taught slave, the other a free black
with European training. Very few names of these black
artists have come down to us: Scipio Moorhead
(active in the eighteenth cenutry); Thomas Day (?-
1861); G.W. Hobbs (active in the eighteenth cen¬
tury ) ; and Joshua Johnston ( 1765-1830 ) .

Ninetenth-century black American artists had the
hard job of proving to themselves and to an un¬
friendly, hostile society that blacks could be painters
and sculptors. The activities and climate of the second
half of the nineteenth century, with the Civil War,
Reconstruction, and post- Reconstruction periods, gave
the black little encouragement or time to develop his
creative abilities. It was a time of fighting and working
for freedom, education, homes, and jobs. Those blacks
who were able to follow a career in art followed the
same course as the white artist. They were educated
in white art schools, made their pilgrimages to Europe
and, once established in their careers, painted in the

styles that dominated the art world in both Europe
and America.

Many different styles of painting came out of
nineteenth-century England and France, but the most
popular theme was nature and all her beauty. Robert
Duncanson (1817-1872), born of a Scottish-Canadian
father and a free black mother, studied and lived
abroad for part of his life. He was basically a land¬
scape painter, painting much like the French artists
of the Barbizon School — a group of artists, working in
the village of Barbizon, who painted lush, realistic
landscapes. Edward M. Bannister (1828-1901),
awarded a gold medal at the Philadelphia Centennial
in 1876, never studied or traveled in Europe. His style
was more in the manner of the members of the Amer¬
ican Hudson River School, who based their style on
the poetic seventeenth-century French landscapes that
were just becoming popular in America in the late
eighteenth century. The century also gave us two
notable black sculptors: Eugene Warburg (c. 1825-
1867) and Edmonia Lewis ( 184B-C.1900).

Henry O. Tanner (1859-1937) became the first
Afro-American artist to win an international reputa¬
tion. He received substantial success during his life¬
time. After studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts and working for awhile in this country,
Tanner journeyed to Paris. He remained in France
where he found freedom from the prejudice of Amer¬
ica and could devote himself to the Biblical themes
he painted.

In the early years of the twentieth century, blacks
were divided over whether to paint racial or universal
themes. The artists were separating themselves into
two groups — those who painted realistically and those
who were absorbed in racial expression.

For a long time black artists toiled with little suc¬
cess. In the years after World War I, they began to
find a more receptive audience for their creative
efforts. The industrial needs of the war brought thou¬
sands of blacks to live and work in northern cities;
there, because of bigotry, fear, and poverty they were
forced to live in ghettos. In New York City, especially
Harlem, the black population nearly doubled between
1916 and 1922. A new sense of community emerged
from the ghettos. Blacks were joining together moving
toward racial self-reliance and a potential for political
and economic power. A black business and profes¬
sional class developed to fill the needs of these new
communities. All this activity of blacks for blacks and
together with blacks, awakened a sense of race pride
and an interest in African heritage. An atmosphere of
cultural rebirth was created. It became the period
known as the Harlem Renaissance, a time when the
black artist felt pride in himself and his race. This
new black rejected dependence on others and the
double standards of whites. There was a belief in one’s
self, one’s race, and what one, by one’s self, could
achieve. The Renaissance had as its philosopher the
talented Alain Locke of Howard University. Locke
defined and led the historical movement with his
article printed in Survey Graphic (March 1925) and
elaborated on it nine months later in the book The
New Negro. The only black artist represented in the
book was Aaron Douglas. Other artists soon followed
Douglas into the Renaissance and some were dragged,
temporarily, into it, including: Archibald Motely,
Richmond Barthe, Lois M. Jones, Meta Fuller, May
Jackson, James Porter, Augusta Savage, Sargent John¬
son, Palmer Hayden, Malvin Gray Johnson, William E.
Scott, Laura W. Waring, James L. Wells, and Hale
Woodruff, to name a few. Douglas, with slight exag-
eration, described it this way:

Harlem was sifted . . . When unsuspecting Negroes were
found with a brush in their hands they were immediately

hauled away and held for interpretation. They were given
places of honour and bowed to with much ceremony. Every
effort to protest their innocence was drowned out with big¬
mouthed praise. A number escaped and returned to a more
reasonable existence. Many fell in with the game and went
along making hollow and meaningless gestures with brush and
palette.

But . . . the Negro artists have emerged . . .

The emergence was celebrated in January 1928 by
the Harmon Foundation in the first all-black exhibi¬
tion in America. The Harmon Foundation was created
by William E. Harmon in the early 1920s as an “ex¬
perimental service for human welfare.” William E.
Harmon Awards for Outstanding Achievement Among
Negroes were presented as an encouragement in cre¬
ative development. In 1926 artistic awards were
added. In 1928 the Harmon Foundation held its first
art exhibition; works of art came from all over the
country. The Foundation hoped that, by creating this
forum for the free-flow of ideas among blacks, an Afro-
American art style would develop, one that would
express the rich feelings and experiences in an Amer¬
ican black’s life. The Foundation also sponsored travel¬
ing art exhibitions, helped to develop art-education
programs in black schools and colleges and, with their
competition for cash awards, encouraged the artists
who had matured during the New Negro Movement
( Harlem Renaissance ) .

The Great Depression put an end to the New Negro
Movement. Artists, who were on the fringe of the
economy, were hard hit and various New Deal pro¬
grams were used to find work for the unemployed. In
1934 the WPA set up the Federal Art Project. The
programs under it were so successful that it was not
disbanded until 1943 during World War II. Many
black artists were assisted by the program. On the
projects the artists gained valuable training and ex¬
perience. The young, inexperienced artists and the
older, more accepted talents met and mingled and

exchanged ideas; all of them on the same level, trying
to survive.

From the end of World War II, through the years
of the 1954 Supreme Court desegregation decision,
interest in the cultural life of the black lessened and
there was a decrease in the number of all-black
exhibitions. It was not a case of race prejudice, per se,
but more a fact of whites trying to ignore color
barriers. The Court said everyone was equal, no one
was left out because he was black, but no one was put
in either. Everyone was to be judged as an individual.
No one kept a black out of school but no one helped
a black get a better education because he had been
deprived for at least 300 years. There were not any
organizations concerned with the black artist's future
as the Harmon Foundation had been. One rarely saw
a black artist included in shows in major museums.
The black leaders, with their white supporters, were
concerned with civil rights. Their time and money were
spent on such matters as boycotts, sit-ins, freedom
rides, and court cases; little energy or money was
available for the arts.

In the 1960s the artist-militant emerged, and a
tremendous growth in black art exhibitions at colleges,
private galleries, and museums took place. As in the
past, writers again debated the role of the black
artist, the nature of black art, and the standards that
could be applied to it.

Many blacks today reject traditional white Amer¬
ican society. They feel that their black heritage offers
an equal or superior culture upon which they may
draw. There is an increasing pride in Afro-American
culture. These blacks find their identity among their
own people whether in America or in black Africa.
Some see this search for blackness as a return to the
days of the Harlem Renaissance but it is not quite the
same. The Renaissance was nurtured and fed by white
support and money. This new movement is solely in
the hands of blacks. Blacks are trying to determine

and control their own artistic destiny.

The work of Afro-American artists today can be
found everywhere, from the hallowed halls of the old
respected institutions to the temporary walls of the
new community museums. Afro-American art covers
the whole spectrum of styles from Pop to Op to
Abstract to Realism, and so on. Every black artist, and
some white ones too, has his own opinion of what
black art is or should be. Elsa Honig Fine, in The
Afro-American Artist , has broken down these opinions
into three main groups; though one must remember
there are splinter groups and much overlapping:

1. Those artists who work in the generally recog¬
nizable contemporary styles but who happen to be
black. Some of the artists in this group are Sam Gil¬
liam, Alvin Loving, Tom Lloyd, Marvin Harden, and
Richard Hunt.

2. Those artists who find their inspiration in the
black protest movement, the black experience in
America, or the motives, symbols, and color of Africa
but work within an established tradition. Some of
these artists are Alvin Hollingsworth, Merton Simpson,
Benny Andrews, and Barbara Chase-Riboud.

3. The black nationalists who choose to create a
black art movement that goes hand-in-hand with black
separatist politics. Some of these artists are Dana
Chandler, Faith Ringgold, Jeff Donaldson, Nelson
Stevens, and other members of Afro-Cobra.

Carolyn Margolis, Program Specialist

ANACOSTIA NEIGHBORHOOD MUSEUM

THOUGHTS ON BLACK ART

If you wanted to know what Italian Renaissance art
is and the names of Italian Renaissance artists, all you
would have to do is pick up any art history book, there
you would find a clear and precise definition. Each
book you looked at might phrase the definition differ¬
ently but the meaning in all of them would be the
same.

But where can one go to get a definition of Black Art
or of what Black Art should be? Do you read Alain
Locke, or James A. Porter, or Romare Bearden, or Sam
Gilliam, or Jeff Donaldson? Are their definitions all
the same? Is there a general and universally accepted
definition? So far we have been unable to find one
that satisfies most people. Black artists are still search¬
ing and experimenting, working in many varied and
new areas. If you study the Afro-American artists in
The Barnett-Aden Collection, you will see different
styles, different themes, different meanings. To help you
decide what you think Black Art is, given below are
statements by various well-known artists and art his¬
torians telling what they think about Black Art.

“We must not expect the work of the Negro artist to be
different from that of his fellow artist. Product of the same
social and cultural soil, the Negro’s art has an equal right and
obligation to be typically American at the same time it strives
to be typical and representative of the Negro.”

Margaret Just Butcher
( from The Afro-American Artist )

“. . . I consider ‘black art’ a name or title given to works done
by black artists in an effort to bring about an awareness that
black artists exist. It establishes for them ‘black identity’.”

Lois Mailou Jones

(from The Art Gallery Magazine, April 1970)

. . although we are a long way from a consensus on the
question What Is Black Art?, I would venture to define it
tentatively as that art which derives its inspiration and susten¬

ance from the struggle of black people for economic, social, and
cultural power; an art which reflects, celebrates, and interprets
that struggle in a stylistic manner which is meaningful to the
Afro-American community and members of other oppressed
minorities.”

Hughie Lee-Smith

(from The Art Gallery Magazine , April 1970)

“To the question What is Black Art? I usually reply with a
question: What is white art? My question always stuns my
adversary, who, while gaining his composure, thinks, ‘Oh hell,
what is he asking? Doesn’t he know what white culture is?
Doesn’t he know how long it’s been around? Can’t he see the
relevancy of Noland’s stripes? Or the beauty of Warhol’s Brillo
boxes: Certainly, he must know the validity of Oppenheim’s
earthworks. Damned black militant extremists! Black aesthetic
—bah!’ ”

Tom Lloyd

(from The Art Gallery Magazine, April 1970)

“Creative art is for all time and is therefore independent of
time. It is of all ages, of every land, and if by this we mean
that the creative spirit in man which produces a picture or a
statue is common to the whole civilized world, independent of
age, race, and nationality, the statement may stand unchal¬
lenged.”

Alma Thomas

( from The Afro-American Artist )

“Black art is a visual attempt to find a viable form which
relates directly to the black experience ... It is an attempt to
impress in black terms the sense of who and what we were,
what we are now, and what we can be.”

Paul Keene

(from The Art Gallery Magazine, April 1970)

“. . . Political and social aspects should not be the primary
concern; esthetic ideas should have preference.”

Norman Lewis

(from The Afro-American Artist )

“. . . I have gradually reached the conclusion that art is impor¬
tant only to the extent that it helps in the liberation of our
people. It is necessary only at this moment as an aid to our

survival. It has to be a means of communication between
artists and people.”

Elizabeth Catlett

( from Black Artists on Art , volume 2 )

“Black Art, like any art, is art. The difference is that it is
done by a special kind of people.”

Frank Bowling

( from The Afro-American Artist )

“We/I think/create from the
rhythmic-color-rapping-life-style of
Black folk

We believe that art can breathe
life and life is what we are about. We
create positive-life-images for
positive Black folk.”

Nelson Stevens, Afro-Cobra Member
( from Black Artists on Art , volume 2 )

“Black art is that art which has a particular form that is recog¬
nized as ‘BLACK’ — regardless of content.”

Jacob Lawrence

(from The Art Gallery Magazine , April 1970)

“. . . what then separates the Black American artist from the
white American artist? Little, save that which separates one
artist from another artist — his time and place of birth, his
genetic heritage, his talent, education and training, his unique
experience in maturing, his interaction with society, and
society’s response to him. All these factors are influenced by the
fact that the individual artist is Black, but they would pertain
if the artist were female rather than male, . . . The question
‘What is Black Art?’ is political rather than aesthetic. ‘Black Art’
is a convenient term used to identify the product of artists who
happen to be Black at a time when political and social pressures
force established American institutions to recognize the achieve¬
ments of the Black.”

Elsa Honig Fine

(from The Afro-American Artist )

CATALOG OF THE COLLECTION

Dimensions are in inches; height precedes width.

Asterisk * indicates works selected by members of the Anacostia Neighborhood
Museum staff for exhibition there from January 20 to May 6 , 1974.

*EDWARD M. BANNISTER

Landscape

Watercolor, 15% x 19

“RICHMOND BARTHfi

Head of a Dancer ( Harald Kreutzberg )
Plaster casting, 8 x 14

“ROMARE BEARDEN

A Walk in Paradise Gardens 1955
Oil on masonite, 33% x 29%

5P^J»i|LX

“JOHN BIGGERS

Sharecroppers
Pencil on board, 36 x 31

AARON BOHROD

New Orleans Street Scene 1937
Oil, 36 x 42

DONALD A. BROWN

Five Figures
Print, 20 x 18 y2

’SAMUEL J. BROWN

The T wins 1945
Watercolor, 38 % x 30%

WILLIAM CALFEE

Girl in a Swing 1948
Oil, 32y2 x 26

Pensive Portrait 1945
Oil on masonite, 16 x 16%

“ELIZABETH CATLETT

E.C,4T

ELIZABETH CATLETT

Working Woman 1947
Oil, 28% x 2iy2

“ELDZIER CORTOR

Man Smoking 1940
Oil, 34% x 28ft

^HAROLD COUSINS

Mamloi

Plaster cast, 9 x 7%

“ADOLPHUS EALEY

Spring Forest
Watercolor, 8 x 10

ADOLPHUS EALEY

Three Old Women
Oil, 33V2 x 32V2

"JOHN FARRAR

Mrs. Mitchell 1944
Oil on canvas, 38 '4 x 30

‘’JOHN FARRAR
Self Portrait

Oil on canvas, 27% x 23%

“FREDERICK FLEMISTER

The Mourners
Oil on canvas, 42 x 34

“FREDERICK FLEMISTER

Self Portrait 1941
Oil on canvas, 33 % x 27%

“CLARE FONTANINI

Head of Christ
Marble, 11 x 5

ALLAN FREELON

Drop Forge
Etching, 21 x 161*

The Wood Gatherer
Woodcut, 15 x 16

“MICHAEL J. GALLAGHER

L»H

“ROBERT GATES

Abstraction
Oil, 30 x 48

°R. GRAVES

Warehouse, East River
Etching, 14 x IF/2

“JAMES V. HERRING

Trees 1956
Woodcut, 21 x 11

“JASMIN JOSEPH

Funerailles
Oil, 27 x 25 Vs

101

"JOSEPH KERSEY

St. Francis and the Bird
Terra cotta, 13 x 7

104

fotctXuru+'rt /f#

“JACOB LAWRENCE

Blind Flower Vendor 1946
Watercolor, 29% x 35%

106

“NORMAN LEWIS

Study in Blue and White 1954
Oil on canvas, 51 x 41%

108

“EDWARD L. LOPER, JR.

Wind and Ashes 1938
Oil on canvas, 29% x 36

109

HERMAN MARIL

On Detail 1942
Oil, 15V2 x 19%

110

“ARCHIBALD J. MOTLEY, JR.

The Argument 1940
Oil on masonite, 44% x 34%

111

“ARCHIBALD J. MOTLEY, JR.
Playground

Oil on masonite, 25'4 x 29 '4

112

•I. RICE PEREIRA

Column of Fire 1955
Oil on canvas, 41% x 21%

113

"JACK PERLMUTTER

Flash Red Every Three Seconds
Rlock print, 16 's x 15%

115

Man in White ( Alonzo Aden )
Oil on canvas, 25% x 21%

“JAMES A. PORTER

120

"MERTON SIMPSON

Study in Red 1949
Oil on masonite, 24% x 14%

128

102

"ALMA W. THOMAS

Etude in Color 1966
Acrylic on canvas, 20 x 26

134

103

“ALMA W. THOMAS

Georgetown Barge
Oil on canvas, 18% x 25

135

106

LARRY ERSKINE THOMAS

The Potters Daughter 1956
Oil, 41 x 29

138

Little Brown Girl
Oil on canvas, 27% x 23%

■mr*

*■

109

“LAURA WHEELER WARING

141

• ^

Ill

•LAURA WHEELER WARING

Portrait of Mr. Alonzo ]. Aden 1947
Oil on canvas, 35% x 30%

143

115

“JAMES L. WELLS

St. Francis and the Birds
Woodcut, 25 x 17%

147

TRIBUTES TO THE FOUNDERS OF THE
BARNETT-ADEN GALLERY

A few years ago someone wrote me to the effect that
during the late 1940s, I, and a number of other Black
artists, did not appear to exhibit in community exhibits
as had been the case in the 1930s. I answered there
were few such opportunities in the years following
World War II, until almost the mid-1960s. Also, I made
the observation that, in those bleak years, the Barnett-
Aden Gallery was one of the few private galleries
where Black painters, sculptors, and graphic artists had
a continuing opportunity to expose their works.

Mr. Herring and Mr. Aden tried as best they could to
acquire the works of these artists — for they were not
wealthy men and the very maintenance of a gallery
is quite costly. So it is a pleasure for me to acknowledge
the pioneering efforts of these two remarkable gentle¬
men. Men who gave of their time, their worldly goods,
and their artistic abilities to a cause from which they
never lost either hope or purpose.

Romare Bearden, Artist

I first met Professor James V. Herring in the early
thirties when I was a student in the Department of
Art at Howard University.

Upon my discharge from the United States Army,
Professor Herring contacted and offered me the
curatorship of the Howard University Gallery of Art.

Thus, on November 18, 1946, 1 officially became the
second curator.

All that I am and all that I hope to become, i.e., as to
my museum training, I owe to this outstanding
gentleman.

He was a great organizer and administrator, had
excellent taste, was a renowned critic, an impeccable
dresser, and quite a gourmet.

In 1940, just before he left for Europe, I met Mr.
Alonzo J. Aden at which time I became temporarily the
curator of the Howard University Gallery of Art.

I found Mr. Aden a man who loved people and who
constantly found ways to sell his ideas and encourage
Blacks to see what art could do for their lives in the
way of culture and appreciation.

Albert J. Carter, Curator
Howard University Gallery
of Art

For more than 25 years the Barnett- Aden Gallery
served as a cultural landmark in the nations capital. I
consider myself fortunate to have discovered this
wonderful little haven while I was still a student of art
at Howard University in the early 1950s.

I remember seeing for the first time in my life original
graphics by Picasso, Matisse, Rouault, and other
modern masters at the Barnett- Aden Gallery. It was

153

here that I first saw works by the black giants of
American art such as Henry O. Tanner, Jacob
Lawrence, Romare Bearden, and Charles White, and
I had the good fortune of meeting a number of
these artists there. The gallery was a meeting place for
artists of all media. Poets, such as the late Georgia
Douglas Johnson, artist-historians, such as the late
James A. Porter, stood side-by-side at the monthly
openings at the gallery. Members of the President’s
cabinet would often appear regularly at these openings.
One could go on naming the many acquaintances, who
were made at the Barnett- Aden Gallery during the
lifetimes of Alonzo J. Aden and James V. Herring,
many of whom helped to mold the course of
contemporary art in our own time. Kenneth Noland
and the late Morris Louis were introduced to me there
by Professor Herring. It was his wise counsel which
served to guide all of us who were searching for
our rightful places in art and society.

Alonzo J. Aden was blessed with the gift of being
able to discern goodness and quality upon first sight of a
work of art — and he exercised this talent with great
pride. He introduced the work of Theodoros Stamos to
the Washington public and served as the Washington
dealer for many of the nation’s most accomplished
artists practicing today. I was again fortunate to have
had my first one-man show at the Barnett-Aden
Gallery in 1957 and exhibited there from time to time
until the death of Professor Herring in 1969.

In recent years the work of the gallery has been
continued by Adolphus Ealey whose leadership has
been outstanding during this period of transition. I am
extremely appreciative of his dedicated efforts to
keep alive the memories of two of our spiritual giants
whose genius touched and influenced the lives of
many artists of all races. Their dream for art was
grounded in the hopes of having it restored to its
rightful place in society beginning first with art in the
home thereby helping to reestablish for it a functional
role whereby it influenced and affected the quality
of life.

Immediately after the death of Alonzo Aden, I was
called upon to serve as director of the gallery. It
was a period of great transition but the job was made
easy by the interest and kind assistance of fellow
artists, friends and patrons who were determined to see
this great institution survive. It is with great antici¬
pation that one looks to the future to see the Barnett-
Aden Gallery continuing to serve as one of the nation’s
cultural landmarks. This exhibition affirms the
Gallery’s continued service to an eager and
appreciative public.

David C. Driskell, Chairman
Department of Art, Fisk
University

somewhere around 1962-67
i first came to live in Washington as a high school
teacher down the street from the barnett aden gallery
i could go often ring the door bell and disturb
doctor herring bring students listen to his stories
about the place how in years past it had shown not
only the great black artists whose works could be seen
on the wall but also first-rate artists before they became
known had both donated and had been given a start
right in that very place all this was remarkable
considering the abundance of museums galleries and
collections available to the Washingtonian yet here
was such a place in a small quiet neighborhood i felt
my black students had much to be proud of here
was that kind of history not written down in books
that needed to be made a permanent part of their
experiences
five years later

while working as a member of the dc commission on

154

the arts it seemed such a tragedy not only that dr h died
but that the gallery was closed
... a little bit more

there are a number of things that i can recall that are
purely conversational/memories that populated
and warmed those earliest experiences you know,
he said, morris louis taught at howard university this
painting, he said, is by a young man who later ended
up in prison and i don’t know how he really came
out in a more personal way there was a place for
these ideas with the students i taught around him i
was reminded that some of the best teachers keep a lot
of things in the eye( mind ) at once.

later

we could visit the other places in other settings — the
students always dressed up for those occasions
the question do you remember became an important
device for revealing the wealth of diversity among the
experiences of just being students who were learning art
the issue as far as i was concerned was the transmission
of information along many paths whether it led to
them being artist or not was not important but that
they were having the many experiences that were
necessary to live was utmost in my mind

does not picasso deal in a similar manner in painting in
many situations regarding studio artist model
feeling about friends homeland love myth?
could i have been wrong in tiying to work in such ways
with my students too after all i was known to them
as their teacher and in a certain sense of the word, i
hadn’t become an artist either

Sam Gilliam, Artist

The Barnett- Aden Collection is a unique cultural
venture in the United States black community.
Originally conceived and built through the initiative
of two men of modest means who had neither
“angels,” foundations, nor government support to
sustain their efforts. Yet, the Collection has survived for
more than three decades. Through the dauntless effort
and farsightedness of its present director, the
Collection bravely faces the challenges of a new
era — whether it can fulfill the larger public purposes
which the Collection was intended to serve or
whether it will have to remain through necessity largely
unavailable to the public because it lacks a secure
and adequate home. The answer lies with the
foundations, governmental agencies, and all Americans
who care about art.

The purposes of the Bamett-Aden Collection have
been threefold : ( 1 ) to collect the best art available for
esthetic and/or historic reasons, ( 2) to serve the
public and the academic community to the extent that
it was able, ( 3 ) to encourage deserving but less
well known artists irrespective of their ethnic heritage.
Worthy purposes, indeed, and in an age of “excessive
bigness” of galleries and museums, there is more than
ever a place for the small private gallery where
the individual and the artist alike can relate to the art
and the intimate environment in a very special way.
Such galleries have a most desirable human dimension,
when adequate resources are available, to be far
more innovative and experimental in their approach
than most large institutions. Washington needs
the Bamett-Aden Collection permanently available
to its citizens and to the countless tens of thousands who
visit the city annually.

The Bicentennial Year, 1976, affords an extraordinary
opportunity for Washingtonians and citizens through¬
out the Nation to insure that this unique Collection
can fulfill its destiny and be made available to all,
offering manifest proof that Americans treasure their
cultural heritage, recognizing that in an age of
accelerated technology and materialism man still

155

needs, in fact, more than ever needs, those places
where his esthetic and intellectual heritage are revered
and can work their peculiar magic on all those who
avail themselves of that enriching experience.

The Barnett-Aden Collection has been a part of the
Washington cultural scene since 1943. It deserves
to survive, continuing significantly to enhance the
quality of life in the Nation's Capital.

Carroll Greene, Jr., Director of
Special Projects for the Maryland
Commission on Afro-American
History and Culture

As a member of the art community, I welcome this
opportunity to offer these few comments in appreciation
of the Barnett-Aden Gallery.

In establishing, building, and maintaining this
Gallery and its Collection, Mr. James V. Herring and
Mr. Alonzo Aden made a contribution to the art
community in particular, and to the cultural community
in general. Their encouragement and sponsorship of
the many artists who came to their attention will always
be appreciated not only by those artists but also by
those persons who maintain and foster an interest in the
development of the plastic and graphic arts. I know
that this Collection will continue to grow and will
always be an inspiration for those who are fortunate
enough to come in contact with its various works.

The Barnett-Aden Gallery was the inspiration for the
establishment of many other galleries and/or museums
whose founders felt the need for institutions which
would, through their collections bring greater public
exposure to the many talented painters, sculptors, and
print-makers who, otherwise, might not have had
such early public display for their works.

Through encouragement and support, Mr. Herring

and Mr. Aden could and did bring their organizational
skills and knowledge of the arts to the cultural
community. It is good to know that the Barnett-Aden
Gallery, a symbol of the dedication of Mr. Herring and
Mr. Aden will continue through the efforts and
expertise of its present director, Mr. Adolphus Ealey.

I know that I join many others in wishing this
exhibition the greatest success. It is a fine tribute to Mr.
James Herring and Mr. Alonzo Aden.

September 25, 1973

Jacob Lawrence

In 1928 1 was invited to serve as head of the Art
Department at Palmer Memorial Institute in Sedalia,
North Carolina. It was there in 1929 that I first met
James V. Herring, the founder and head of the
Department of Art at Howard University, during his
visit as guest lecturer in Art History.

He visited my studio classroom where I had on
exhibition the work of my students, and on viewing the
show he expressed his need for me to teach at Howard.
I accepted his offer and in 1930 joined him and James
A. Porter, who was the instructor in drawing and
painting, along with James Lesesne Wells, the
instructor in Graphic Art. It was indeed a happy union
and together we dedicated our service and talents to
the building of a strong and progressive art department.

Mr. Alonzo Aden served as director of exhibitions
for the Howard University Gallery of Art and in 1943,
along with Professor Herring, founded the Barnett-
Aden Gallery, located at 127 Randolph Place in
Washington, D.C. Although the Gallery aimed to

156

emphasize Negro Art, they presented to the
Washington community the very best art created by
both black and white artists.

This small art center, the first of its kind in
Washington, ran on a non-profit basis and featured
paintings suitable in size for the average home.

Its placement in a private home furnished an excellent
illustration of how the group of works as a whole
suited its purpose.

Among the black artists represented at the gala
opening were James Wells, Aaron Douglas, James
Porter, Jacob Lawrence, Lois M. Jones, Hale Woodruff,
Malvin Gray Johnson, Elizabeth Catlett. The place
of honor was given to Henry O. Tanner, represented by
the luminous and characteristic painting: “Flight
Into Egypt,” a religious work.

Included also were works by several painters closely
identified with the Phillips Memorial Gallery, three
small oils by Elliott Orr, a New York artist, and canvases
by Nicolai Cicovsky, Louis Bosa, Betty Graves
Reyneau, Celine Tabary, and Ann Brockman.

The venture was geared to encourage chiefly the
purchase of American art and to emphasize the achieve¬
ments of Negro artists.

I am personally indebted to the Barnett- Aden
Gallery, under James V. Herring and Alonzo Aden, for
my first important one- woman show in Washington
which served to establish the place I now hold among
the ranks of American painters.

Lois Mailou Jones Pierre-Noel
Professor of Design and
W ater color Painting ,

College of Fine Arts,

Howard University

In this age of frantic tempo and the degradation of
the creative spirit by the Harpies of conformity and
tastemaking, it is a rarity when someone stands out in
the light of belief in the freedom of the creative
spirit. Such a man is Alonzo Aden. And it is in tribute
to this spirit that I extend my hand in heartfelt
admiration on this occasion of his thirty years of
dedication to art.

Men like Aden are singular. They stand alone,
unafraid, in a world caught in the disintegrating forces
of its own machinations. They are aware that man is
always being threatened by the demons of his
own dissolution. They demonstrate their faith by being
true to the spirit that leads man onward to ever-
higher plateaux of accomplishment. Such a person
preserves the dignity of man. It is men like Alonzo Aden
who help the real artist plant the seeds which
guarantee a more fruitful future.

I. Rice Pereira
New York, N.Y.

September 17, I960' from:
“Seventeenth Anniversary
Exhibition: American
Contemporary Art 1930 to
I960,” produced by the
Barnett-Aden Gallery

It would be a difficult thing to try to separate Alonzo
J. Aden from the Gallery since he is the Gallery and
the Gallery is his home.

Certainly the Barnett-Aden Gallery is one of the
oldest in Washington, D.C. and a Gallery where
paintings and sculpture are shown in juxtaposition with
everyday living.

Aden has also had the distinction of exhibiting artists
in group shows and solo, who have eventually gone
on to success both nationally and internationally.

157

My sincerest congratulations for continued success.

Theodoros Stamos
East Marion, Long Island, N.Y.
September, 1960 > from :
“Seventeenth Anniversary
Exhibition: American
Contemporary Art 1930 to 1960,”
produced by the
Barnett- Aden Gallery

In 1921, 1 enrolled in the Howard University Home
and Economics Department, specializing in costume
designing. My instructor was Professor James V.
Herring who recognized my artistic talents and advised
me to enroll in the Howard University Art Department,
which he established in 1921. He was the mentor
who started and encouraged me in my art career.

Professor Herring was a handsome, dedicated man,
endowed with great vision. He laid the foundation
for the development of Afro-Americans in the field of
art. He was a great humanitarian who not only
encouraged his gifted students, but also took a personal
interest in their struggles to raise themselves above
their handicaps.

One of the students in his Art History Course, Alonzo
J. Aden, displayed unusual talent in recognizing
worthy and creative works of art. Teacher and student
combined their talents and established an art gallery
in the only space available, the first floor of the Howard
University Chapel. Encouraged by their success,

Alonzo Aden took time out to take special courses in
museum management and made an intensive study tour
through the world-renowned European museums and
small galleries. Some time after his return, he and
Professor Herring established the Barnett- Aden
Gallery ( named in honor of Alonzo’s mother, Naomi
Barnett Aden) at 127 Randolph Place, N.W., in the
house in which they lived. The theme of the enterprise
was to educate the local community by showing how
paintings, sculpture, and ceramics enriched the home.

However, Professor Herring never relinquished his
teaching career and after his retirement was a
visiting professor at a succession of colleges in the south.
He left the management of the gallery to Alonzo Aden
who proved to be a most successful curator and was
the first to integrate the works of outstanding artists of
that time, viz.: Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland,

Jacob Kainen, Romare Bearden, Merton Simpson,
Richard Dempsey, Jacob Lawrence, Charles White,
and many more too numerous to mention.

Although Professor Herring and Alonzo Aden are
now deceased, their influence is apparent in the
art world of today. Adolphus Ealey, the new director
who inherited most of the excellent collection, is
now engaged in reviving and perpetuating the Gallery
in memory of these two great men as well as estab¬
lishing an historical archive of American art.

1973

Alma W. Thomas
Washington Colorist

Today the black art movement claims a new sense of
identity based on involvement with its own community.
This same solidarity with the community was
practiced years ago at the Barnett- Aden Gallery. The
Gallery was concerned with its community’s needs
and problems. Like the young movement of today,
many artists represented in this Collection became in¬
volved in their own history and culture. Many of these
same artists are still making outstanding contributions
to their community. I have seen works from the
Barnett-Aden Collection several times but today I have
a rare opportunity to review this all important

158

Collection while, in a small way, helping James E. Mayo
and Carolyn Margolis to prepare this memorable
exhibit of 1974. When the visitors come to the
Anacostia Neighborhood Museum to view this Collec¬
tion, they should be inspired to sense the life and
history recorded in these works by some of the world’s
finest artists.

In 1949 1 went to Ethiopia to teach arts and crafts. It
was in Addis Ababa that I first learned of Alonzo
Aden and his gallery where a black artist could have an
opportunity to show his work. It was a gallery where
the board of directors would encourage struggling and
unknown artists with something to offer. In July
of 1952, 1 came to the United States on my first home
leave and I headed straight for the Barnett- Aden
Gallery in the Nation’s Capital.

My exciting meeting with Alonzo Aden and Dr.

James V. Herring still sends out vibrations. In this warm
little Gallery, for the first time, I deeply sensed the
charismatic force of the Afro-American artist and a
revelation about some beautiful people was intensified
for me as I walked about the Gallery. I recalled as a
young artist in New York in 1939, 1 had no association
with the artists of the black colleges and universities.

I was a loner and principally self-taught. I had met
Charles White at the Art Students League in
New York. I often saw Romare Bearden on the 125th
Street of that era. Augusta Savage and Richmond
Barthe had always sparked a strong feeling but I did not
really know why until that evening at the dinner
table with Alonzo and Dr. Herring.

We sat and talked, we walked and talked, we
discussed Ethiopian art and Afro-American art. Dr.
Herring viewed photographs of my U.S.I.A. show, “This
Is Ethiopia.” The gouache paintings depicted life and
people of Ethiopia. I remember him saying, “Erskine,
you have painted the realistic scene. They are executed
well but they don’t have . . . ,” and if I could recall
the exact words he used, they still would mean —
lack of soul. Alonzo considered my work for the
Gallery’s 9th anniversary. There was a warm acceptance

and a powerful atmosphere of respect. They under¬
stood what I was searching for. I carried that inspiration
they gave me back to Africa and I began to paint with
a religious feeling borrowing the soul of Africa.

This atmosphere of warmth and acceptance is
reflected once again as this beautiful and most
important Collection is exhibited in a small neighbor¬
hood gallery. The Barnett- Aden Gallery was located in
the neighborhood and home of its curators and was
unbiased, this made it unique, warm and friendly. The
Collection was originally housed in a neighborhood
gallery and it is exciting to know that its first showing
after a dormant period will be in a neighborhood
museum that is also unbiased, unique, warm, and
friendly.

It is heartening to know that the Barnett- Aden
Gallery is planning to continue activities as it did prior
to the deaths of its founders, Professor James V. Herring
and Mr. Alonzo Aden. It was then an institution
dedicated to promoting the arts and predominant in
bringing the black artist to the attention of the public.

Under the directorship of Mr. Adolphus Ealey, the
Barnett- Aden Collection has recently been sent to
Embassies in African and European countries. A few
years ago, shortly after the death of Mr. Aden, a
memorial exhibition was held in the gallery of Morgan
State University. It was a beautiful exhibition honoring
a dedicated sponsor of the arts.

The Barnett- Aden Gallery showed the works of
artists, regardless of race, creed, or color, at a time when
it was difficult and nearly impossible for the Negro

159

artist to gain entrance to other galleries, local or
national. The artist’s ability, integrity, and quality of
work were the only qualifications for acceptance by the
Barnett-Aden Gallery. The Gallery also launched
the careers of many young artists who later became
famous.

Aside from the work of Mr. Herring and Mr. Aden
in establishing one of the first private art galleries
in Washington, D.C., they also had the unique
experience of conducting, at Howard University, one
of the first university art galleries in the country. As a
teacher and a former associate of the late Professor
Herring, former Head of the Howard University Art
Department and the late Mr. Aden, former Curator of
the Howard University Gallery of Art, I consider
it a privilege to make these comments and express my
best wishes for the success of Mr. Ealey in his plans for
reestablishing the Barnett-Aden Gallery in the main¬
stream of the major art galleries in this country
and abroad.

James L. Wells

Professor of Fine Arts ( Retired )
Howard University

In 1940 a very significant event occurred in Chicago:
an American Negro exposition celebrating 75 years
of Negro achievement. A major part of the exposition
was the most comprehensive and representative
collection of black art that had ever been assembled in
Chicago.

Chairman of the art committee that compiled this
exhibition, national in scope, was the distinguished
scholar and authority on black art, Dr. Alain Locke. The

curator of the exhibition was Alonzo Aden.

For the young black artists of Chicago, little exposed
to the art world and to the works of fellow black
artists, this introduction was an exhilarating experience.
A door was opened. Our narrow, provincial art world
took on a major dimension. A rich heritage was
revealed to most of us for the first time. Duncanson,
Bannister, Harper, Tanner, Edmonia Lewis, Fuller
emerged out of the past. Our peers, Crichlow,

Woodruff, Alston, Lawrence, Pippin, Porter, Lewis,
Bearden, Blackburn, Barthe, stepped through the doors
and became permanently a part of our present. A
superbly trained curator, thoroughly acquainted with
black history, brought its importance to life with
skill and scholarship.

In my personal archives there exists a scrapbook, a
pot-pourri of memorabilia related to this period.

A treasured item is the catalogue of this exhibition with
an inscription “Charles, with all my good wishes for
great success amongst American artists” signed Alonzo
Aden. The phrase “success amongst American artists”
says so much about the philosophy and concerns of
Lonni. He felt black art and artists should be
completely integrated into the mainstream of American
art.

Coinciding with these events of 1940 an idea was
forming in the dreams of Alonzo Aden and his beloved
friend James V. Herring. It was subsequently to
emerge in 1943 as the Barnett-Aden Gallery. Professor
James V. Herring was the Chairman of the art
department at Howard University, a gallery that was
to have historic significance.

The occasion of my first visit to Barnett-Aden in
1943 was a delightful shock. I was hardly prepared by
experience or knowledge to walk through a Gallery
that was in a home. Its unique quality struck me
immediately. It made so much sense to exhibit works
for the home in a home setting. Moreover, it beautifully
reflected the personalities of its founders.

Lonnie, charming, flamboyant, a cherubic blond pixie
with a devilish wit to match. Always impeccably

160

attired, his presence was at all times radiant and com¬
manding — an erudite cosmopolitan. The Professor
— scholarly, acutely perceptive and Solomon wise, was
equally witty and charming. The personification of
stability — a result of his awareness and insight into the
foibles of mankind. In contrast to Lonnie he was
rather conservative in demeanor and taste. He was a
superb host and gourmet cook. To sit at their table was
an experience!

The Bamett-Aden Gallery, while black owned and
directed, serviced and reached out to artists of
wide ethnic backgrounds. An established policy of the
Gallery was to have one-man shows in observance of
its anniversary. Brazil's foremost contemporary
painter Candido Portinari, Jack Perlmutter, Jacob
Lawrence, Elizabeth Catlett, and I were but a few of
the artists so honored. The shows reflected the
broad catholic tastes of its founders. If any prejudices
were evident in their tastes it was in favor of art

that was rooted in the spirit of human values, the
wedding of man and nature.

We, the black artists, are particularly indebted to
these two beautiful people. Their pioneering spirit,
their sensitivity and support of black art was an
inspiration for the black artist. It helped us to take an
aggressive position in confronting the art institutions
and galleries in demanding our due. The Barnett-Aden
Gallery represented a special kind of soul.

September 1973

161

Professor James Herring, on the right, and Mr. Alonzo Aden welcome Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt to the Barnett-

Aden Gallery.

162

ARTISTS IN THE COLLECTION

ALICE STANLEY ACHESON

Painter. American. Born in Michigan in 1895. Studied at
Wellesley College; Boston School of Fine Arts; Corcoran
School of Art; Phillips Gallery School of Art. Selected
Exhibits: Franz Bader Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Corcoran
Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Wildenstein Gallery,
New York City; Jerusalem; Tel Aviv; Haifa; Ankara. Collec¬
tions: Barnett-Aden Collection; Corcoran Gallery of Art;
Phillips Collection; Wellesley College; Watkins Gallery;
Joseph H. Hirshhom Collection. Mrs. Acheson has been
awarded many prizes from the Society of Washington
Artists. She is the wife of the late Honorable Dean Acheson.
Mrs. Acheson comes from a long line of artists and has
carried on the tradition for many years here in Washington.

“She is an artist who has taken to heart the superficially
simple but profoundly difficult adage that an artist can deal
only successfully with the thing he really knows. Her work
has the structure and simplicity of truth.” (Archibald Mac-
Leish)

“Taken all together, her paintings reflect the American
scene in a broad sense. For this reason as well as for their
artistic qualities they have a permanent value.” (Washing¬
ton Times Herald)

CHARLES ALSTON

Painter, sculptor, graphic artist, illustrator, educator. Afro-
American. Bom in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1907.
Studied at Columbia University (B.A., M.A.); New York
University; Pratt Institute; Art Students League of New
York. Selected Exhibits: Seymour Oppenheimer Gallery,
Chicago; John Heller Gallery, New York City; Dunbarton
Gallery, Boston; New York Cultural Center; Howard Uni¬
versity, Washintgon, D.C.; Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York City; Museum of Modern Art, New York City;
Boston Museum of Fine Arts; Brussels World’s Fair; Whit¬
ney Museum of American Art, New York City; Corcoran
Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Detroit Institute; City
College of New York. Collections: Abraham Lincoln High

School; Atlanta University; Barnett- Aden Collection; City
College of New York; Detroit Institute; Ford Motor Co.;
Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Co.; Harlem Hospital;
Howard University; IBM; University of Illinois; Metropoli¬
tan Museum of Art; NAACP; University of Nebraska; Whit¬
ney Museum of American Art; Museum of African Art
Frederick Douglass Institute. Awarded a grant for Achieve¬
ment in Arts, National Institute of Arts and Letters; Thomas
B. Clark Award, National Academy of Design; first prize,
Atlanta University Annual; first prize, Dillard University
Annual.

The subject of Alston’s paintings has often been black,
the style reflecting the sophisticated distortion of Afripan
sculpture.

“Depending on how I feel, I work either figuratively or
abstractly. Some things I react abstractly to, some figura¬
tively. I’ve never held with the ‘consistency’ the critics are
so hipped on. After I’ve solved a problem, I can’t get inter¬
ested in repeating it.” (Charles Alston)

FRANK ALSTON, JR.

Painter, designer. Afro-American. Bom in Providence,
Rhode Island, in 1913. Studied at Rhode Island School of
Design; Rhode Island College of Education. Selected Ex¬
hibits: Atlanta University; National Gallery of Art, Wash¬
ington, D.C.; New. York World’s Fair, 1939; Corcoran
Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Collections: Bamett-Aden
Collection; Howard University, Washington, D.C.; U.S.
Senate Office Building; the late Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt.
While in school, he won fourteen major scholarship awards.

Alston depicts subjects (mostly landscapes, urban scenes
and architecture) in a very realistic manner which gives the
viewer an immediate recognition of the subject matter.

EDWARD M. BANNISTER

Painter. Afro-American. Bom in St. Andrews, New Bruns¬
wick, in 1828; died in 1901 in Providence, Rhode Island.
Studied at Lowell Institute and privately under Dr. Rimmer.

163

Collections: Bamett-Aden Collection; Museum of African
Art Frederick Douglass Institute, Washington, D.C.; Rhode
Island School of Design Museum of Art; New York Public
Library, Schomburg Collection. Bannister started out as an
artist in Boston. In 1871 he and his wife moved to Provi¬
dence to be closer to. the sea and sailing, which Bannister
loved. In 1876 Bannister was awarded a medal of the first
class for his painting Under the Oak at the Centennial Exhi¬
bition in Philadelphia. During his lifetime, he won three
more medals for his romantic landscapes. In Providence,
Bannister was one of three artists who founded the Provi¬
dence Art Club. This group became the beginnings of the
Rhode Island School of Design.

Bannister's dominant style was modest and straight¬
forward. He enjoyed nature as she was and painted her that
way. His vision seems basically intimate and humble. Espe¬
cially interesting are his little works. In these the soundness
of construction, the sureness of the brush, and the genuine
humility of feeling for nature come through unencumbered.

JAMES MACDONALD BARNSLEY

Painter, illustrator. Canadian. Bom in Toronto, Canada, in
1861; died in 1929. Studied at the St. Louis School of Fine
Arts from 1877 to 1882; went to Paris to study in 1833.
Returned to the United States in 1887 and stayed in this
country until 1890. Barnsley then became a teacher of
watercolor at the Art Association of Montreal. He had
suffered a tragic life, his father died when he was a year old,
his sister drowned when he was ten, and the mill that sup¬
ported his family burned down when he was fourteen; in
1892 he was committed to the Verdun Protestant Hospital.
During his active years he did oils, watercolors, and illus¬
trations, and exhibited at various Paris salons. In 1965 there
was a major retrospective of his work at the Art Gallery of
Vancouver. He was awarded a blue ribbon for watercolor
at the St. Louis Fair; honorable mention, a Gold Medal, and
a Silver Medal while exhibiting in France.

_ BARSE, JR.

Biographical data unavailable.

RICHMOND BARTHE

Sculptor, painter. Afro-American. Bom in Bay St. Louis,
Mississippi, in 1901. Was of black, French, and Indian
extraction. While at school, Barthe attracted the attention of

a Catholic priest who helped him enter the Art Institute of
Chicago, where he had to sweep floors in order to pay his
way. After four years there, he went to New York to con¬
tinue his training at the Art Students League and privately
under Charles Schroeder and Albin Polasek. Selected Ex¬
hibits: Texas Centennial Exposition, Dallas; Harmon Foun¬
dation; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City;
Baltimore Museum of Art; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine
Arts, Philadelphia. Collections: Bamett-Aden Collection;
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; The Virginia Museum
of Fine Arts, Richmond; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York City; National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institu¬
tion; U.S. Department of the Treasury; Whitney Museum of
American Art, New York City.

“Richmond Barthe’s sculptures, most of which are Negro
in subject, reveal great technical ability, together with a
freely flowing rhythmic quality which seems to spring from
the natural gift for expression . . . One feels the quiet sin¬
cerity, simplicity and strength of these lovely figures.”
(Helen Griffiths Harmon)

ROMARE BEARDEN

Painter. Afro-American. Bom in Charlotte, North Carolina,
in 1912. Studied at New York University (B.S.); University
of Pittsburgh; American Artists School; Art Students League
of New York; under George Groz; Columbia University; La
Sorbonne, Paris. Bearden has worked and lived in New York
City. In 1964 he became art director of the Harlem Cultural
Council. In 1969, with Norman Lewis and Ernest Crichlow
(fellow Afro-American artists), he organized the Cinque
Gallery in New York to exhibit the work of younger black
artists. Selected Exhibits: Corcoran Gallery of Art, Wash¬
ington, D.C.; Atlanta University; Cordier and Ekstrom Gal¬
lery, New York City; Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh; Harlem
Art Center, New York City; Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego;
Boston Museum of Fine Arts; Whitney Museum of American
Art, New York City; National Collection of Fine Arts, Smith¬
sonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Collections: Bamett-
Aden Collection; Whitney Museum of American Art; North
Carolina Museum; Cordier and Ekstrom Gallery; Johnson
Publishing, Co., Inc.; New York Public Library, Schomburg
Collection; Chase Manhattan Bank; Newark Public Library;
Boston Museum of Fine Arts; National Collection of Fine
Arts, Smithsonian Institution; Hirshhom Museum and
Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution; and many pri-

164

vate collections. The continual drama as well as the joys of
the “Black Experience” are stunningly explored by Romare
Bearden. In his work, he produces a vibrant and expressive
vocabulary of image and form.

Bearden’s canvases have a robust vitality. The figures
seem to spill over the edge of the frame, to break the
physical limitations of the canvas, to move off into a further
dimension. But so great is the unity of design, color, and
subject that the figures are held in a state of balanced ten¬
sion. His canvases have a sense of shimmering force and
energy, but yet they also offer compassion and tenderness.

WILSON BIGAUD

Painter. Haitian. Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in 1931.
Studied under Professor Bomo and became well known in
both Haiti and this country. Around 1950, Bigaud gave up
painting because of ill health, but returned to his work in
1962, and has become a legend in his native Haiti. Selected
Exhibits: Centre d’Art, Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Galerie Mon-
nin, Port-au-Prince, Haiti; International Monetary Fund,
Washington, D.C.; Anderson-Hopkins Gallery, Arlington,
Virginia. Collections: Barnett-Aden Collection; Episcopal
Church, Port-au-Prince; Kurt Bachmann Collection; Haitian
Government.

Few artists of any era have approached his ability to
depict the heat, humor, and the joy of everyday life that
make Haiti so unique. Bigaud is able to combine a strong
love for his land and people with a cool observer’s eye that
catches and savors the small tricks of life. Bigaud’s works
are a Witness to the land he loves, in its private and public
lives, the good and the bad, never trying to hide the con¬
trasts.

JOHN BIGGERS

Painter, printmaker, sculptor, graphic artist. Afro-American.
Born in Gastonia, North Carolina, in 1924. Studied at
Hampton Institute; Pennsylvania State University (B.S.,
M.A., D.Ed). Selected Exhibits: Atlanta University; City
College of New York; La Jolla Museum of Art; Texas Paint¬
ing and Sculpture Exhibition; National Center of Afro-
American Artists, Boston; Denver Museum of Art; Xavier
University, Cincinnati, Ohio. Collections: Barnett-Aden
Collection; Houston Museum of Fine Arts; Dallas Museum
of Fine Arts; Lubbock Museum; Howard University; At¬
lanta University; Texas Southern University; Pennsylvania
State University; Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Co.;

and many private collections. Awarded Purchase Prize,
Houston Museum of Fine Arts; Purchase Prize, Dallas
Museum of Fine Arts; Purchase Prize, Atlanta University
Annuals, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953; honorable mention, Archi¬
tectural League; Dallas Museum of Fine Arts Award; cita¬
tion of merit, Society of Illustrators Annual National Ex-
hiibtion; UNESCO Fellowship in 1957 to do an artist’s
study of life in West Africa.

TEODORO RAMOS BLANCO

Sculptor. Cuban. Born in Havana, Cuba, in 1902. Studied
at the Art Academy, San Alejandro; and in Rome. Blanco’s
first exhibit in this country was with the Harmon Foundation
in 1933; he showed eight pieces. Blanco was brought to the
attention of the Harmon Foundation by Mr. Arthur Schom-
burg. Selected Exhibits: Seville; Rome; Riverside Museum,
New York City; Harmon Foundation; Club Atenas, Havana,
Cuba; National Cuban Shows; American Negro Exposition,
Chicago. Collections: Barnett-Aden Collection; Harmon
Foundation; Howard University; New York Public Library,
Schomburg Collection; and municipal and private collec¬
tions in Cuba. Awarded Gold Medal in Seville; prize awards,
National Cuban Shows.

AARON BOHROD

Painter, educator. American. Bom in Chicago, Illinois, in
1907. Studied at Crane Junior College; Chicago Art Institute
with Boardman Robinson, Richard Lahey; Art Students
League of New York City with John Sloan. Selected Ex¬
hibits: A.A.A. Gallery, New York City; Milch Gallery, New
York City; Agra Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Ii*ving Gal¬
leries, Inc., Milwaukee; Metropolitan Museum of Art; New
York City; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Col¬
lections: Barnett-Aden Collection; University of Arizona;
Beloit College; Boston Museum of Fine Arts; Brooklyn
Museum; Corcoran Gallery of Art; Detroit Institute; New
York Cultural Center; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Penn¬
sylvania Academy of Fine Arts; Whitney Museum of Amer¬
ican Art. Awarded William A. Clark Prize, Corcoran Gallery
of Art; Artists for Victory, Metropolitan Museum of Art;
Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship; The Mr. and Mrs.
Frank G. Logan Prize, Chicago Art Institute; first award,
Illinois State Fair; Saltus Gold Medal for Merit, National
Academy of Design; Childe Hassam Awa!iJ, American
Academy of Arts and Letters.

165

What Bohrud did for the big city — New York and New
Orleans as well as Chicago — he did with equal fervor for
many of the surrounding small towns and countrysides. His
work in the 1930s forged his reputation as one of the leading
artists of the “American Scene.” In these early years, he por¬
trayed the city with its ramshackle buildings, desolate
streets, and people of the Depression in both bright and
slushy colors with profound emotion that depicts the entire
character of his subject matter.

MI MI DUBOIS BOLTON

Painter. United States citizen. Bom in Gravlotte, France, in
1902. Studied at Marquette University; Art Students League
of New York; Corcoran School of Art; Phillips Gallery
School of Art under Karl Knath; and privately with Richard
Lahey; Kenneth Stubbs; Eugen Weisz. Selected Exhibits:
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Boston Museum
of Fine Arts; New York City Center; Society of Washington
Artists; Academy of Science and Fine Arts, Richmond, Vir¬
ginia; Turkish Embassy, Washington, D.C.; Avant-Garde
Gallery, New York City; Miami Museum of Modem Art;
National Academy of Design, New York City. Collections:
Barnett- Aden Collection; Corcoran Gallery of Art; Museum
of Modem Art, Tyler, Texas; Washington Star/ News.
Awarded first prize, oil painting, Chautauqua National Jury
Show; first prize, Society of Washington Artists, 1952, 1960;
Purchase Prize, Corcoran Gallery of Art; second prize,
Society of Washington Artists; third prize, Society of Wash¬
ington Artists; honorable mention, Corcoran Gallery of Art,
1943, 1946.

In her work, Ms. Bolton is concerned with luminosity and
with the planes of space. Her works are an example of clari¬
fication of space and the definition of form. The composi¬
tions are well integrated and have an architectural strength.
Ms. Bolton’s forms are large and luminous in color; they
float and turn in space like slow-moving clouds.

DONALD A. BROWN

Biographical data unavailable.

SAMUEL J. BROWN

Painter, printmaker, sculptor, mixed media. Afro-American.
Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1907. Studied at the
Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art; Teachers
College of the University of Pennsylvania. Selected Exhibits:

Philadelphia College of Art; Philadelphia Art Alliance;
WPA Art Project, Howard University, Washington, D.C.;
University of Pennsylvania; Philadelphia Museum of Art;
Baltimore Museum of Art; Museum of Modern Art, New
York City; National Forum of Professional Artists. Collec¬
tions: Barnett- Aden Collection; Philadelphia Museum of
Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Hyde Park Elementary
School; Huey Elementary School, Hamilton Elementary
School, Hanna Elementary School, Philadelphia; Temple
University; International Ladies Garment Workers; Howard
University; National Archives; Workers Progress Alliance.
Awarded first prize, National Competition Serigraph in
Colors; first prize, Latham Foundation, National Competi¬
tion; first prize, sculpture, Willingboro Art Show.

Brown uses his art to set forth current human problems
and needs. All his works have a dramatic feeling, which he
keeps well contained.

WILLIAM CALFEE

Sculptor, painter, graphic artist. American. Bom in Wash¬
ington, D.C., in 1909. Studied at Ecole des Beaux-Arts,
Paris; Cranbrook Academy of Arts; Catholic University.
Selected Exhibits: Southern Vermont Art Center; Baltimore
Museum of Art; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.;
Franz Bader Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Jefferson Place
Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Weyhe Gallery, New York City.
Collections: Barnett- Aden Collection; Philadelphia Museum
of Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Cranbrook Academy of
Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; Philbrook Academy; Balti¬
more Museum of Art; Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.;
8 murals and 2 sculptures commissioned by the U.S. Treas¬
ury Department, 1936-1941.

Calfee’s development as an artist has led him from a
sympathetic realistic depiction of human beings and small
animals of life, to more abstract works of greater scope, inte¬
grated by strong fluent movement.

FREDERICK CAMPBELL

Painter. Afro-American. Bom in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
in 1926. Studied at the Hussian School of Art. Selected Ex¬
hibits: Hampton Institute, Hampton, Virginia; William
Moor Foundation, Baltimore; Philadelphia Civic Center;
Studio 5, New York City; State Armory, Wilmington, Dela¬
ware; Lee Cultural Center, Philadelphia. Collections: At¬
lanta University; Barnett- Aden Collection; Hampton Insti-

166

tute; and many private collections.

ELIZABETH CATLETT

Sculptor, painter, printmaker. Afro-American. Bom in
Washington, D.C., in 1915. Studied at Howard University
(A.B.); University of Iowa (M.F.A.); Art Students League
of New York; Art Institute of Chicago; privately under
Ossip Zadkine and Grant Wood. Selected Exhibits: Down¬
town Gallery, New York City; American Negro Exposition,
Chicago; Baltimore Museum of Art; Newark Museum;
Albany Institute of History and Art; Museum of Modem
Art, Mexico; Studio Museum of Harlem, New York City.
Collections: Museum of Modem Art, New York City;
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; National Poly¬
technic Institute, Mexico City; DuSable Museum of
African-American Art and History; and many private col¬
lections. Awarded first prize in sculpture at the American
Negro Exposition; first prize in sculpture at the Golden
Jubilee Exhibition in Chicago. At one time Ms. Catlett was
married to the famous Afro-American artist Charles White.
Remarried, she now resides in Mexico.

Elizabeth Catlett displays meticulous craftsmanship and
a straight-forward approach in all her works. She says what
she wants to, pulling no punches. She is at home in many
media, excelling in sculpture, painting, and prints.

EBEN COMINS

Painter. American. Bom in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1875;
died in 1971 (?). Studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts,
Paris; privately under E. C. Tarbell; Denman Ross.
Selected Exhibits: Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington,
D.C.; Society of Washington Artists; National Gallery of
Art, Washington, D.C.; Vorke Gallery, Washington, D.C.;
Brookline Library, Massachusetts; U.S. Department of
Interior, Washington, D.C.; Ehrich Galleries, New York
City; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia;
National Academy of Design, New York City; Art Insti¬
tute of Chicago; Buffalo Exposition; St. Louis Exposition;
Panama Exposition; New York World's Fair, 1939. Collec-
lections: Barnett- Aden Collection; Howard University;
United States Capitol; White House; Supreme Court
Building; Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts;
Walter Reed Hospital, Washington, D.C.; Harvard School
of Law, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Awarded first prize,
Hartford Exhibitions; honorable mention, Connecticut

Academy of Fine Arts; Gold Medal, Panama Pacific Ex¬
position; first prize, Society of Washington Artists, Cor¬
coran Gallery of Art.

Mr. Comins lived a great deal of his life in Washington
and became a much sought after portraitist. He painted
Supreme Court Justices, Congressmen, debutants, and
other important subjects of his day.

TONY CORNETTI

Biographical data unavailable.

ELDZIER CORTOR

Painter. Afro-American. Born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1915.
Studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, where he had to
work during the day and study at night; Institute of
Design, Columbia University; Pratt Graphic Art Center.
He traveled in the Southeast, spending a year in the Sea
Islands off the coast of Georgia, where he studied the
Gullah Negroes. Selected Exhibits: American Negro Expo¬
sition, Chicago; City College of New York; Boston Mu¬
seum of Art; Smith-Mason Gallery, Washington, D.C.;
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City; Carnegie
Institute, Pittsburgh; Studio Museum of Harlem, New
York City. Collections: Bamett-Aden Collection; Howard
University; Johnson Publishing Co., Inc.; Musee du Peuple
Haitian; University of Illinois; Martha Jackson Gallery;
and many private collections.

Cortor’s paintings and drawings often stress fragments
of the figure, for he believes the part can be more inter¬
esting than the whole. The meaning behind his work is less
important to him than the composition and color.

It was a teacher who interested him in African art:
“That was the most important influence of all in my work,
for to this day you will find in my handling of the human
figure that cylindrical and lyrical quality I was taught . . .
to appreciate in African sculpture.” (Eldzier Cortor)

HAROLD COUSINS

Sculptor. Afro-American. Selected Exhibits: American
Cultural Center, Paris; Galerie Finker, Paris; Poindexter
Gallery, New York City; Claude Bernard Gallery, New
York City; James A. Porter Gallery of African-American
Art, Howard University, Washington, D.C. Has resided in
France since 1949. Additional biographical data unavail¬
able.

167

BERNICE CROSS

Painter. American. Studied at Wilmington Academy; Cor¬
coran School of Art; Phillips Gallery School of Art. Taught
at Hood College, Frederick, Maryland; American Univer¬
sity, Washington, D.C.; YWCA, Washington, D.C.; and
is the former head of the Phillips Gallery School of Art.
Selected Exhibits: Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington,
D.C.; Bertha Schaefer Gallery, New York City; Contem¬
porary Arts Gallery, New York City; Phillips Collection,
Washington, D.C.; Franz Bader Gallery, Washington,
D.C.; Little Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Whyte Gallery,
Inc., Washington, D.C. Collections: Bamett-Aden Collec¬
tion; Springfield Museum; Wilmington Society of Fine
Arts; Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.

Ms. Cross's imagination, sense of humor, and feeling
for painting combine in her work to tell a story or convey
a mood. Her works have a gay and elf-like quality, they
are imaginative renderings. But beneath the twinkle, there
is a sober sense of artistic values.

GENE DAVIS

Painter. American. Bom in Washington, D.C., in 1920.
Studied at University of Maryland; Wilson Teachers
College. Selected Exhibits: Henri Gallery, Washington,
D.C.; Catholic University, Washington, D.C.; Franz Bader
Gallery, Washington, D.C.; San Francisco Museum of Art;
Jefferson Place Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Washington
Gallery of Modem Art; Brandeis University, Waltham,
Massachusetts; Los Angeles County Museum of Art;
Museum of Modem Art, New York City; “Two Decades
of American Painting” circulated in Japan, India, Australia;
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City. Col¬
lections: Barnett-Aden Collection; Philadelphia Museum
of Art; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Bran¬
deis University; Florsheim Foundation; Massachusetts In¬
stitute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Museum
of Modern Art, New York City; National Collection of
Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution; San Francisco Museum
of Art; Woodward Foundation; Tate Gallery, London,
England. Awarded Bronze Medal for Painting, Corcoran
Gallery of Art; grant from National Council on the Arts;
grant from National Endowment for the Arts.

Davis began painting in 1950 as a widely experimental
expressionist. For about eight years he explored the ideas
of Gorky, de Kooning, and Pollock in expressionist paint

handling and drawing. He then tried neo-Dadaism, proto-
Pop directions and experimented with heavy impastos.
Finally he came to question his own feelings. One of a
number of experiments developed in early 1958 was an
edge-to-edge painting of vertical stripes. Within that year,
Davis found his format and established a new convention
in abstract painting.

ADOLF DEHN

Painter, lithographer. American. Born in Waterville, Min¬
nesota, in 1895; died in 1968. Studied at Minneapolis

Institute School; Art Students League of New York.

Selected Exhibits: Macbeth Gallery, New York City;

A.A.A. Gallery, New York City; Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York City; Museum of Modem Art, New York
City; Brooklyn Museum; Boston Museum of Fine Arts;
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City; New
York Public Library; American Academy of Arts and
Letters, New York City; Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts,
Columbia, Ohio. Collections: Bamett-Aden Collection;
Boston Museum of Fine Arts; Brooklyn Museum; Chicago
Art Institute; Cincinnati Art Museum; Cleveland Museum
of Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City;
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City;

Museum of Modem Art, New York City; Newark Museum;
U.S. Navy; British Museum. Awards from Philadelphia Art
Alliance, The Print Club; Chicago Art Institute; Guggen¬
heim Foundation Fellowship; first prize, 150th Anniver¬
sary of Lithography, Rochester Museum.

Dehn originally worked as an etcher and lithographer.
He tried his hand at watercolor at age forty-one, four
years later his watercolors were given a room of their
own at the International Watercolor Show.

Adolf Dehn is “sensitive, urbane, masterly in technique,
he has a unique and personal style, Dehn can render —
more successfully than anyone — atmosphere and the
subtler moods of nature.” (Carl Zigrosser)

RICHARD DEMPSEY

Painter. Afro-American. Bom in Ogden, Utah, in 1909.
Studied at Sacramento Junior College; California College of
Arts and Crafts; Students Art Center. Dempsey is now,
and has been for many years, a resident of Washington,
D.C. Selected Exhibits: Academy of Art, San Francisco;
Whyte Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Franz Bader Gallery,

168

Washington, D.C.; Centre cTArt Gallery, Port-au-Prince,
Haiti; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.G.; Cor¬
coran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; American Acad¬
emy of Arts and Letters, New York City; Baltimore
Museum of Art; US I A “American Painters,” in Austria,
Greece, Germany; Rhodes National Gallery, Salisbury,
Southern Rhodesia; University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa;
Howard University, Washington, D.C.; “16 Washington
Artist s,” Anacostia Neighborhood Museum, Smithsonian
Institution, Washington, D.C. Collections: Franz Bader
Gallery; Bamett-Aden Collection; Corcoran Gallery of Art;
Howard University; D.C. Municipal Courts; IBM; Vera
Jones Bright Gallery, Atlanta University; Atlantica Foun¬
dation, Southern Rhodesia; Luis-Angel Arango Gallery,
Bogota, Colombia; U. S. State Department; Institute of
Jamaica Art Gallery. Awarded first prize, Fourth Annual
Area Exhibit, Corcoran Gallery of Art; first prize, Golden
Gate International Exhibit; first prize, Times-Herald An¬
nual Exhibit; first prize, Atlanta University.

Dempsey’s work shows continuing growth. He has
never ceased to experiment, evolve, and add to earlier
paintings. Each exhibit for him has been a new step
forward.

AARON DOUGLAS

Painter, printmaker, illustrator. Afro-American. Born in
Topeka, Kansas, in 1899. Studied at the University of
Kansas (A.B.); University of Nebraska (B.F.A.); Colum¬
bia University Teachers College (M.A.); L’Academie
Scandinave; privately under Winold Reiss; Despiau;
Waroquier; Othon Frieze. When Alain Locke put together
his very important book The New Negro in 1925, Winold
Reiss was selected as illustrator. He chose his student
Aaron Douglas as his assistant. Douglas was “the artist”
of the Harlem Renaissance. During the Depression, Doug¬
las did many outstanding murals under the WPA. He is
now retired from the Chairmanship of the Fisk University
Department of Art. Selected Exhibits: Harmon Founda¬
tion; Texas Centennial Exposition, Dallas; Baltimore
Museum of Art; Howard University, Washington, D.C.;
Art Institute of Chicago; Brooklyn Museum; American
Negro Exposition, Chicago. Collections: Bamett-Aden Col¬
lection; Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee; Sherman
Hotel; New York Public Library; 135th Street YMCA,
New York City; Hall of Negro Life, Texas Centennial

Exposition; Dallas; Bennett College, Greensboro, North
Carolina.

“Few people have been so prophetic in their art as
Aaron Douglas . . . Hailed by all who know of his fame
from the time that he first painted murals in the 1920s
and 1930s, Douglas seems even more relevant today than
he did at that time. At such an early date his art spoke
prophetically of the beauty of the black man and his
culture in this hemisphere. It is for this reason that
Douglas continues to tower over young and old artists
alike in that he planted his feet on solid ground at a time
when it was unpopular to dignify the image of the black
man.” (David C. Driskell)

DAVID C. DRISKELL

Painter, graphic artist. Afro-American. Bom in Eatonton,
Georgia, in 1931. Studied at Howard University (B.A.);
Catholic University of America (M.A.); Skowhegan School
of Painting and Sculpture; Netherlands Institute for His¬
tory of Art. Selected Exhibits: Rhodes National Gallery;
Society of Washington Artists; Whitney Museum of Amer¬
ican Art, New York City; Atlanta University; Howard Uni¬
versity, Washington, D.C.; Baltimore Museum of Art;
Franz Bader Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Oakland Mu¬
seum; U.S. Department of State, Art in Embassies Pro¬
gram; San Diego Fine Arts Center; National Gallery of
Art, Washington, D.C. Collections: Howard University;
Bamett-Aden Collection; Corcoran Gallery of Art; Skow¬
hegan School of Painting and Sculpture; Savery Art Gal¬
lery; Danforth Foundation; Atlanta University; Bocour Art
Collection; Le Moyne College; Smithsonian Institution;
United States Embassy in Denmark. Awarded honorable
mention, Corcoran Gallery of Art; John Hope Award;
prizes from the Danforth Foundation; American Federa¬
tion of Art; Harmon Foundation. Currently Chairman of
the Department of Art at Fisk University.

“He also possesses the power to endow his work with a
warmth of feeling that removes it from the level of the
obvious, the banal, or the sentimental. His is the double
gift of clairvoyance and objectivity. . . . The artist’s more
recent paintings display a luxury of color and a splendor
of design that still reflect his abiding interest in the more
lyrical poetic aspects of surface . . .” (James A. Porter)

AUGUSTUS DUNBIER

Painter. American. Born in Osceola, Nebraska, in 1888.

169

Studied at the Royal Academy, Diisseldorf, Germany; Art
Institute of Chicago. Selected Exhibits: Omaha Public
Library; Joslyn Memorial; Howard University, Washing¬
ton, D.C. Awarded a prize from the Nebraska Exposition.
Adidtional biographical data unavailable.

ADOLPHUS EALEY

Painter, curator, teacher, designer, lecturer. Afro-American.
Bom in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1941. Studied at the New
York School of Music and Art; Brooklyn Museum School
of Art; Howard University; University of Wisconsin;
Academie de la Grand Chaimiere, Paris; Washington
Technical Institute. Selected Exhibits: Howard University,
Washington, D.C.; IBM Galleries; University of Wisconsin,
Madison, Wisconsin; Smithsonian Institution, Washington,
D.C.; U.S. Department of State. Mr. Ealey has worked for
the District of Columbia School System and as director of
the International Arts Gallery. He is director of the
Barnett- Aden Gallery.

D. M. FAGOG

Biographical data unavailable.

JOHN FARRAR

Painter. Afro-American. Bom in Huntsville, Maryland, in
1927; died in 1972. At the age of fourteen, he won the
Times-Herald Art Fair Scholarship, a $100 war bond,
plus a year of study under Eliasz Lanarek, a famous Polish
artist. Studied at the Art Students League of New York.
Selected Exhibits: Atlanta University; New Names in
Negro Art, Washington, D.C.; City College of New York;
Outdoor Art Fairs in Washington, D.C. Won $300 first
prize in the figure-painting category at the Atlanta Uni¬
versity Exhibit. Works are in several public collections.

FREDERICK FLEMISTER

Painter. Afro-American. Bom in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1916.
Studied at Morehouse College; was a scholarship student
at John Herron Art Institute; and studied privately under
Hale Woodruff. Selected Exhibits: Atlanta University;
High Art Museum, Atlanta; Dillard University, New
Orleans; American Negro Exposition, Chicago; Institute
of Modem Art, Boston; Albany Institute of History and
Art; City College of New York; Xavier University, Cin¬
cinnati; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton,
Massachusetts. Awarded first prize in oils at the American

Negro Exposition; prize for painting, Atlanta University.

CLARE FONTANINI

Sculptor. American. Bom in Rutland, Vermont, in 1908.
Studied at College of St. Catherine (A.B.); Columbia
University with Oronzio Maldarelli and Josef Albers
(M.A.). In 1947, was appointed head of the Catholic
University Art Department and was also professor of
sculpture. Selected Exhibits: Walker Art Center, Min¬
neapolis; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond; Na¬
tional Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D.C.; Catholic University, Washington, D.C.;
New Trinity College Library, Washington, D.C.; Mint
Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina. Collections:
Barnett-Aden Collection; College of Saint Catherine, Min¬
neapolis; Trinity College Library, Washington, D.C.; in
many churches in the Washington D.C. area including
St. John Evangelist Church and All Saints Episcopal
Church. Awarded bronze medal in 1952 from the world
famous sculptor Jacques Lipschitz; first prize, sculpture,
Corcoran Gallery of Art Annual Area Show; first prize,
sculpture, National Christian Arts Festival, University of
Wisconsin; Frank E. Jelleff Award for Sculpture, Washing¬
ton, D.C.

ALLAN FREELON

Painter, printmaker, educator. Afro-American. Bom in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1895. Studied at Penn¬
sylvania School of Industrial Art; University of Pennsyl¬
vania under Earl Horter and Hugh Breckenridge. Selected
Exhibits: Harmon Foundation; Newton Galleries, New
York City; Texas Centennial Exposition, Dallas; Howard
University, Washington, D.C.; Whitney Museum of Amer¬
ican Art, New York City; Philadelphia Civic Center; New
Jersey State Museum; National Gallery of Art, Washing¬
ton, D.C.; Warwick Gallery, Philadelphia. Collections:
Barnett-Aden Collection; Jay Cooke High School; Glouce¬
ster High School; Vineland, New Jersey Museum of
Art; Lincoln University, Pennsylvania; South Philadelphia
Boys School. Awarded four-year scholarship, Philadelphia
Museum School of Art; first prize, Art League of German¬
town, Pennsylvania; first prize, Racial Commission of
Philadelphia.

JACQUES GABRIEL

Biographical data unavailable.

170

R. GRAVES

MICHAEL J. GALLAGHER

Printmaker. American. Bom in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in
1899. Studied at the Philadelphia School of Industrial Art;
privately under Thorton Oakley. Gallagher, together with
Dox Thrash and Hubert Mesibov, were responsible for
the development of carborundum mezzotint or carbograph
process. Gallagher worked under the Graphic Arts Divi¬
sion of the WPA Federal Art Project. Collections: Bamett-
Aden Collection; Brooklyn Museum; Philadelphia Museum
of Art; Smithsonian Institution; New York Public Library;
Philadelphia Public Library.

ROBERT GATES

Painter, printmaker. American. Born in Detroit, Michigan,
in 1906. Studied at the Detroit School of Arts and Crafts;
Art Students League of New York City; Phillips Gallery
School of Art; Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. Served
as Professor of Art at American University and was Artist-
in-Residence at the American Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq.
Selected Exhibits: Jefferson Place Gallery, Washington,
D.C.; Studio House Gallery, Washington, D.C.; George
Washington University, Washington, D.C.; Howard Uni¬
versity, Washington, D.C.; Washington County Museum of
Art, Hagerstown, Maryland; Richmond Academy of Fine
Arts; Baltimore Museum of Art; Phillips Collection, Wash¬
ington, D.C.; Watkins Gallery, American University,
Washington, D.C. Collections: Baltimore Museum of Art;
Barnett- Aden Collection; Watkins Gallery, American Uni¬
versity; Dumbarton Oaks; Phillips Collection; Corcoran
Gallery of Art; Lewissohn Collection. Awarded Still Life
Medal, Society of Washington Artists, 1933, 1939; Land¬
scape Medal, Society of Washington Arists; prizes from
Washington Evening Star; Washington Watercolor Club;
Hallmark International Painting Competition; Baltimore
National Watercolor Exhibition.

Always present in Mr. Gates's work are his sensitivity,
his forthrightness, and the basic beauty of the painting.
His works are a tapestry of rectangular color areas. The
forms are constructed with rich color and pattern. Gates
uses nature as a starting point and evolves from it a scene
or group of figures which he simplifies so that only the
main elements are retained and reinforced through line
and color.

Biographical data unavailable.

ROBERT GWATHMEY

Painter. American, Born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1903.
Studied at North Carolina State College; Maryland Insti¬
tute; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts with George
Harding, Daniel Garber. Selected Exhibits: Whitney Mu¬
seum of American Art, New York City; Carnegie Institute,
Pittsburgh; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City;
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; Philadelphia; ACA
Gallery, New York City; Boston Museum of Fine Arts;
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond; Boston Univer¬
sity. Collections: Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama;
Bamett-Aden Collection; Brandeis University, Waltham,
Massachusetts; Birmingham, Alabama Museum of Fine
Arts; Boston Museum of Fine Arts; Brooklyn Museum;
Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Los Angeles
County Museum of Art; Philadelphia Museum of 'Art;
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City; Cali¬
fornia Palace Legion of Honor; University of Georgia,
Athens, Georgia; IBM Galleries; University of Illinois;
University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska; University of
Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma; Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts; Randolph-Macon Woman's College, Lynchburg,
Virginia; University of Rochester; Springfield, Massachu¬
setts Museum of Fine Arts; University of Texas, Austin,
Texas; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond. Awarded
U.S. Government 48 State Mural Competition; second
prize, Carnegie Institute; fourth prize, Corcoran Gallery
of Art.

Though his paintings have a stylized form, there is an
important message to be found in each one of them. He
uses simplified forms and bold colors to translate his
message visually.

JAMES V. HERRING

Artist, educator. Afro-American. Bom in Clio, South Caro¬
lina, in 1887; died in 1969. Studied at the Academy at
Howard University; Syracuse University; Crouse College
of Fine Arts, Syracuse University; Columbia College,
Columbia University; Fogg Museum, Harvard University.
In 1921, Mr. Herring was appointed to Howard University
where for a year he served as the Instructor in the History
of Architecture and Ornament. During that time, he or-

171

ganized the Department of Art, of which he became
chairman. In 1930, he organized the first art gallery
directed and controlled by blacks in the United States.
The gallery at Howard University was located on the
ground floor of the Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel. In
1943, Mr. Herring, with Alonzo Aden, opened the Bamett-
Aden Gallery in Washington, D.C.

“In a life devoted to the teaching and sharing of beauty,
James Vernon Herring was friend, mentor, gadfly, to gen¬
erations of students and colleagues at Howard University.”
(Richard Long)

HARLAN JACKSON

Painter. Afro-American. Bom in Clearburn, Texas, in 1918.
Studied at Kansas State Teachers College; Hans Hoffman
School of Fine Arts in New York City; Howard University;
California School of Fine Arts; and in Haiti on a fellow¬
ship. Selected Exhibits : State Armory, Wilmington, Dela¬
ware; James A. Porter Gallery of African-American Art,
Howard University, Washington, D.C.; Panoras Gallery,
New York City. Collections: Barnett- Aden Collection;
Howard University.

Harlan Jackson’s works have a boldness of design and
the effective and varied use of primary colors. But the
rhythm of his designs is powerful and insistent, the color
is bold, and the sharp angular forms convey deep tensions.

MALVIN GRAY JOHNSON

Painter, commercial artist. Afro-American. Bom in Greens¬
boro, North Carolina, in 1896; died in 1934. Studied at the
National Academy of Design. Selected Exhibits: Harmon
Foundation; Texas Centennial Exposition, Dallas; Howard
University, Washington, D.C.; Baltimore Museum of Art;
American Negro Exposition, Chicago; Art Institute of
Boston; New Jersey State Museum; Library of Congress,
Washington, D.C.; Smithsonian Institution, Washington,
D.C.; Newark Museum. Collections: Barnett- Aden Collec¬
tion; Whitney Museum of American Art; Harmon Foun¬
dation; Howard University; National Collection of Fine
Arts, Smithsonian Institution; Fisk University; Public
Works Administration Projects; National Archives; New
York Public Library, Schomburg Collection; Oakland Art
Museum. Awarded Otto H. Kahn Prize, Harmon Founda¬
tion.

“Artistic or creative fervor was of the essence of this

man who won the respect and admiration of many artists
and patrons of the arts ... A certain rugged indomitable¬
ness kept him at his problems until he had attained the
ripeness of vision, the clarity of insight that made his best
painting — that, specifically between the years of 1931 and
October, 1934 — possible. The man gave his life to the
struggle, dying at the age of thirty-eight at the time he was
producing his best work.” (James A. Porter)

WILLIAM H. JOHNSON

Painter, graphic artist. Afro-American. Bom in Florence,
South Carolina, in 1901; died in 1970. Came to New York
at seventeen and worked at various jobs for three years
until he could pay for classes at the National Academy of
Design. While there, he won many top prizes. In 1924,
he went to Paris to study. In France, Johnson met a
Danish woman, Holcha Krake. She traveled to the United
States with him in 1930. After a short visit, they returned
to Denmark and were married. In 1938 they returned to
New York, where Johnson went to work for the WPA. In
1943 his wife died of cancer and after that Johnson was
never in full command of his faculties. In 1946, he re¬
turned to Denmark but had to be hospitalized. In 1947,
Johnson was sent back to New York and placed in a
mental hospital where he died in 1970. Selected Exhibits:
Harlem Art Center; Harmon Foundation; Gavle Museum,
Sweden; National Museum, Stockholm; Trondhjem
Museum, Norway; Artists Gallery, New York City; Fisk
University, Nashville, Tennessee; Morgan State College,
Baltimore; Philadelphia Civic Center; American Negro
Exposition, Chicago; Texas Centennial Exposition, Dallas;
Newark Museum; Tuskegee Institute, Alabama; National
Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washing¬
ton, D.C. Collections: Bamett-Aden Collection; Oakland
Museum; National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian
Institution; Howard University; Tuskegee Institute; Mor¬
gan State College; Hampton Institute; Museum of African
Art Frederick Douglass Institute. Awarded the Gold Medal
from the Harmon Foundation; Cannon Prize; Hallgraten
Prize of the National Academy of Design.

“In all my years of painting I have had one absorbing
and inspired idea and have worked toward it with unyield¬
ing zeal — to give in simple and stark form the story of the
Negro as he has existed.” (William H. Johnson)

172

LOIS MAILOU JONES

Painter, designer, illustrator. Afro-American. Born in
Boston, Massachusetts, in 1906. She received four suc¬
cessive scholarships to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Since there were no openings, the school suggested she
apply for an assistantship at an all-black university. After
leaving Boston, she continued her studies at the Academie
Julian, Paris; Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris; Rome; Columbia
University Summer School; Columbia University Teachers
College; Howard University (A.B.); privately under Philip
Hale; Jules Adler; and Joseph Berges. In 1945 Ms. Jones
came to Howard University to teach in the art depart¬
ment. Selected Exhibits: Salon des Artistes Francais, Paris;
National Academy of Design, New York City; Pennsyl¬
vania Academy of Fine Arts; Harmon Foundation; Texas
Centennial Exposition, Dallas; National Gallery of Art,
Washington, D.C.; American Negro Exposition, Chicago;
Institute of Modem Art, Boston; San Francisco Art Museum;
United Nations Club; Soulanges Gallery, Paris; Vose Gal¬
lery, Boston; Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Galerie
International, New York City; “16 Washington Artists,”
Anacostia Neighborhood Museum, Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D.C.; City College of New York; Boston
Museum of Fine Arts. Collections: IBM Galleries; Brooklyn
Museum; Phillips Collection; Bamett-Aden Collection; In¬
ternational Fair Gallery, Izmir, Turkey; University of Pun¬
jab, Pakistan; Palais National, Haiti; Atlanta University;
Howard University; West Virginia State College; Rosen-
wald . Foundation; Retreat for Foreign Missionaries
(mural); Corcoran Gallery of Art; Galerie International;
Walker Art Center; Bowdoin College; United States Em¬
bassy in Luxembourg; 135th Street Branch, New York
Public Library; Johnson Publishing Co., Inc. Awarded the
Robert Woods Bliss Landscape Prize in Oil Painting,
Corcoran Gallery of Art; first prize, Corcoran Gallery of
Art; first award, oil, Atlanta University; Haitian Govern¬
ment Decoration and Order for Achievement in Art; honor¬
able mention, American Negro Exposition; first prize, oil,
National Museum.

“Louis Mailou Jones is one of the few figures in Amer¬
ican art to achieve a long, exciting and inspiring career
in which there is no room for defeat, dullness and trickery.
Whether it is the Lois Jones of the early thirties — the
artist in Montmarte, the Lois Jones of the fifties and sixties

watching “Peasants on Parade, Haiti,” or Lois Jones of
today reflecting on “Dahomey,” ... it is always the Lois
Jones in full control of her design and her colors. Few
could so freshly see the world over a forty-year period. . . .

“Lois Mailou Jones is, and has long been, a catalyst for
artists, particularly black artists; but she has also never
faltered in the creativity of her own work and in the gen¬
erosity and humanity of her life.” (Edmund B. Gaither)

JASMIN JOSEPH

Painter, sculptor. Born in La Grande Rivier Du Nord,
Haiti, in 1923. Studied at the Centre d’Art in Haiti where
he developed a technique of firing pierced screens of
brickwork. Joseph has slowly turned toward painting,
favoring the exotic world of birds and animals. Additional
biographical data unavailable.

JACOB KAINEN

Painter, printmaker. American. Born in Westbury, Con¬
necticut, in 1909. Studied at the Art Students League of
New York; Evening School of Industrial Art; Pratt Institute
School of Art; New York University of Architecture;
George Washington University. Mr. Kainen was Curator
of Prints at the National Collection of Fine Arts, Smith¬
sonian Institution. Selected Exhibits: US I A Contemporary
American Painting Tour of Latin America; Roko Gallery,
New York City; Grand Central Modems, New York City;
Emerson Gallery, McLean, Virginia; Franz Bader Gallery,
Washington, D.C.; Art Institute of Chicago; Detroit Art
Institute; Oakland Art Gallery; “16 Washington Artists,”
Anacostia Neighborhood Museum, Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D.C.; Brooklyn Museum; Metropolitan Mu¬
seum of Art, New York City; Baltimore Museum of Art;
Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Horn Gallery,
Bethesda, Maryland. Collections: Metropolitan Museum of
Art; Brooklyn Museum; Baltimore Museum of Art; Brook¬
lyn Public Library; Bamett-Aden Collection; Queens Col¬
lege; Carnegie Institute; Library of Congress; Phillips Col¬
lection; Corcoran Gallery of Art; National Collection of
Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution; Howard University;
H. Biggs Memorial Hospital, Ithaca; East Texas Teachers
College; Bezalel National Museum, Jerusalem; and many
private collections. Awarded Purchase Prize, Library of
Congress; several prizes from the Corcoran Gallery of Art
Regional Exhibitions.

173

Jacob Kainen has always gone his own way as a painter,
quite independent of current styles or movements. There
is an agony of conflict in his work that shows that it was
not easily achieved. His boldness lies in his independence,
his incorruptibility. His work is simply there. You accept it
on his terms or not at all.

“Kainen is an intellectual, a traditionalist, a scholar, but
the past he reveres was a time of ceaseless revolution. No
other Washington painter has been as intimately associated
with the growth of modem art.” (Paul Richards)

JOSEPH KERSEY

Sculptor, painter. Afro-American. Born in Chicago, Illinois,
in 1908. Studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. Selected
Exhibits: Chicago Artists; Federal Arts Project; American
Negro Exposition, Chicago; Atlanta University; Howard
University, Washington, D.C.; Library of Congress, Wash¬
ington, D.C.; South Side Community Center, Chicago;
McMillen Inc., Galleries, New York City. Collections:
Johnson Publishing Co., Inc.; Bamett-Aden Collection.
Awarded honorable mention at the American Negro Ex¬
position.

JOSEPH LASKER

Painter, illustrator. American. Bom in Brooklyn, New York,
in 1919. Studied at Cooper Union Art School (certificate).
Selected Exhibits: Kraushaar Galleries, New York City;
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; Whitney Museum of
American Art, New York City; National Academy of De¬
sign, New York City. Collections: Whitney Museum of
American Art; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Joseph H.
Hirshhorn Collection; Springfield Museum; California Pal¬
ace Legion of Honor; Post Offices in Calumet, Michigan,
and Milbury, Massachusetts (murals); Henry Street Settle¬
ment Playhouse (mural); Bamett-Aden Collection.
Awarded Purchase Prize Murals, Washington State Capitol
Building; Prix de Rome.

“I really am a genre painter, but when abstraction came
into ascendency and ‘genre’ had become almost a dirty
word, I began to wonder if my style was really valid. But
I no longer worry whether the way I work is smart or
sophisticated or in vogue — I just paint.” (Joseph Lasker)

JACOB LAWRENCE

Painter, illustrator. Afro-American. Bom in Atlantic City,

New Jersey, in 1917. Studied at the Art Workshop under
Charles Alston and Henry Bannarn; Harlem Art Center;
American Artists School; Harlem Workshop. Lawrence
first achieved recognition with his Migration of the Negro
series painted in 1941. The series of 60 panels detailed con¬
ditions in the South that encouraged the migration of black
families to northern industrial centers before and during
World War II. The odd number panels of the series belong
to the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. Selected Ex¬
hibits: Harlem Art Center; Fisk University, Nashville, Ten¬
nessee; Baltimore Museum of Art; American Negro Expo¬
sition, Chicago; Museum of Modem Art, New York City;
Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Morgan State Col¬
lege, Baltimore; Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachu¬
setts; 1st World Festival of Negro Arts, Dakar, Senegal;
Boston Museum of Fine Arts; National Center of Afro-
American Arists, Boston; Whitney Museum of American
Art, New York City; American Academy of Arts and
Letters; National Institute of Arts and Letters. Collections:
Museum of Modem Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art;
Phillips Collection; Art Students League of New York;
New School for Social Research; Addison Gallery of Amer¬
ican Art; Bamett-Aden Collection; Phillips Academy; Ala¬
bama Polytechnic Institute; Albright-Knox Gallery; Atlanta
University; Baltimore Museum of Art; Brooklyn Museum;
Container Corporation of American; Detroit Institute of
Art; George Washington Carver School; Harmon Foun¬
dation; Howard University; IBM Galleries; Museum of
Modem Art, Sao Paulo, Brazil; New Jersey State Museum;
Portland Museum of Art; Rhode Island School of Design;
Southern Illinois University; University of Arizona; Vir¬
ginia Museum of Fine Arts; Cornell University; Whitney
Museum of American Art; Wichita Art Museum; Worce¬
ster Art Museum; Spelman College, Atlanta University;
Morgan State College; Joseph H. Hirshhorn Collection;
National Archives; Johnson Publishing Co., Inc.; Newark
Public Library. Lawrence received the NAACP’s Spingarn
Medal in 1970, he was the first painter to be so honored.
On receipt of the Spingarn Medal, Lawrence said, “If I
have received a degree of success as a creative artist it is
mainly due to the black experience which is our heritage —
an experience which gives inspiration, motivation and
stimulation. It was inspired by the black esthetic by which
we are surrounded ... to depict our life . . .”

174

“Although his style with its brilliant color, abstract form
and patterned surface is wholly 'modem/ Lawrence is like
a medieval artist in wanting to teach by means of pictures
and being able to paint only what he deeply feels and
knows. His subject matter has been drawn from experi¬
ences which have touched him personally . . .” (Aline B.
Saarinen)

HUGHIE LEE-SMITH

Painter. Afro-American. Bom in Eustis, Florida, in 1914.
Studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art; Wayne State
University (B.S.); Art School of the Detroit Society of
Arts and Crafts; John Huntington Polytechnic Institute.
Selected Exhibits: Howard University, Washingon, D.C.;
USIA Traveling Show to the USSR; Petite Gallery, New
York City; Grand Central Art Galleries, New York City;
Museum of Modem Art, New York City; Boston Museum
of Fine Arts; San Francisco Museum of Art; Cleveland
Museum of Art; Detroit Institute of Arts; Albany Institute
of History and Alt; Denver Art Museum; Cincinnati Art
Museum; Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; Rhode
Island School of Design; Atlanta University; National Acad¬
emy of Design, New York City; La Jolla Museum of Art;
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City; National
Center of Afro-American Artists, Boston; Studio Museum in
Harlem. Collections: Atlanta University; Bamett-Aden
Collection; Detroit Institute of Arts; Art School of the De¬
troit Society of Arts and Crafts; Lagos Museum, Nigeria;
Squibb and Sons; American Natural Gas Service Co;
Mahogany Corporation; U.S. Navy Art Center; University
of Michigan; Wayne State University; Howard University;
Parrish Museum; Johnson Publishing Co., Inc.; Arwin
Galleries; and many private collections. Awards received
from the following institutions and organizations: Cleve¬
land Museum of Art; Atlanta University; Detroit Institute
of Arts; Michigan State Fair; Michigan Academy of
Science, Arts, and Letters; National Academy of Design;
City Center Gallery; Society of African Culture.

Hughie Lee-Smith's works are the product of a
Romantic-Realist. Perfectly clean and sharply defined, his
contrasts of light and dark prove his technical maturity.
His subject is moody and personal. Time and space are
mysterious and fleeting. He paints with eloquence and
compassion. His works are extraordinarily sensitive and
thoughtful and call for our best response.

NORMAN LEWIS

Painter. Afro-American. Bom in New York City, in 1909.
Studied at Columbia University; privately under Augusta
Savage; Raphael Soyer; Vaclav Vytacil; Angela Streater.
In the 1960s, he was an active participant in the black
esthetic revolution. He was involved with Spiral, a group
of black artists who, after the 1963 March on Washington,
organized to show their concern for the Civil Rights Move¬
ment by making a collective statement about the nature
of black art. Selected Exhibits: Harlem Artists Guild; Fisk
University, Nashville, Tennessee; Baltimore Museum of
Art; American Negro Exposition, Chicago; Atlanta Uni¬
versity; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City;
Whitney Museum of American Art; New York City; Art
Institute of Chicago; Boston Museum of Fine Arts; Cor¬
coran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Musee de Peinture
et de Sculpture, Grenoble, France; Ghana National Mu¬
seum; “Venice Biennale,” Venice, Italy; Minneapolis Insti¬
tute of Arts; Studio Museum in Harlem; National Center
of Afro-American Artists, Boston. Collections: Addison
Gallery of American Arts; Barnett-Aden Collection;
Museum of Modem Art; Munson-Williams-Proctor Insti¬
tute; Art Institute of Chicago; Arden Gallery; IBM; Manu¬
facturers Hanover Bank; Time-Life Building; St. Albans
High School (mural); and many private collections.
Awards from the Carnegie Institute; American Academy
of Arts and Letters; National Institute of Arts and Letters.

"... a painting should always be doing something when
it is being looked at, but something of itself, not words or
musical notes.” (Norman Lewis)

EDWARD L. LOPER, JR.

Painter. Afro-American. Bom in Wilmington, Delaware,
in 1916. Received private criticism from N.C. Wyeth,
Walter Pyle, and David Reyam. Selected Exhibits: Dela¬
ware Artists Annual; American Negro Exposition, Chicago;
Institute of Modern Art, Boston; Atlanta University; State
Armory, Wilmington, Delaware; Tanner Art Galleries;
Newark Museum; James A. Porter Gallery of African-
American Art, Howard University, Washington, D.C.;
Smith-Mason Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Library of Con¬
gress, Washington, D.C.; Smith College, Northampton,
Massachusets. Collections: Atlanta University; Aesthetic
Dynamics; Barnett-Aden Collection. Awarded honorable

175

mention, Delaware Artists Annual; Popular Prize, Whyte
Gallery, Inc.; Purchase Prize, Delaware Artists Annual;
Purchase Prize, Atlanta University; Yamall Albott Prize.

HERMAN MARIL

Painter, educator. American. Born in Baltimore, Maryland,
in 1908. Studied at Maryland Institute College of Art.
Selected Exhibits: Golden Gate International Exposition,
San Francisco; Carnegie Institute Annual, Pittsburgh; Balti¬
more. Museum of Art; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts,
Philadelphia; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.;
Franz Bader Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Forum Gallery,
New York City; Howard University, Washington, D.C.
Collections: Whitney Museum of American Art; Metro¬
politan Museum of Art; Baltimore Museum of Art; Bamett-
Aden Collection; San Francisco Museum of Art; National
Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution; Amherst
College; Howard University; Senate Office Building; Mor¬
gan State College. Awarded first award, Silvermine Guild;
Stefan Hirsch Memorial Award, Audubon Artists; Artists
Prize, Baltimore Museum of Art.

“The word which expresses best the work of Herman
Maril is tranquil. . . . Critics differ as to Mariks style. Mary
Cole of the Art Digest says his style is semi-abstract, with
deep feeling for nature and from that deep feeling creates
canvases that communicate quiet and peaceful poetry.
Helen Carlson says Maril paints realistically, but it is a
realism reduced to its simplest form. There is a constant
awareness of design in these paintings and the color and
harmonies are as sensitively refined as the compositions
they accompany. Although critics do not agree as to Mariks
style, they all concur in the one fact that his painting is
mature and tranquil/' (James V. Herring)

ARCHIBALD J. MOTLEY, JR.

Painter. Afro-American. Bom in New Orleans, Louisiana,
in 1891. Studied at the Art Institute of Chicago under
Karl Buehler, Norton, and Krehbiel. In 1928, Motley held
a one-man show at the New Galleries, the first by a black
man since Henry O. Tanner. Motley made an arrange¬
ment with the Treasury Department that allowed him to
paint murals for Howard University and teach art there
at the same time. Selected Exhibits: Harmon Foundation;
Illinois Academy of Fine Arts; Art Institute of Chicago;
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Dallas Exposi¬

tion; Texas Centennial Exposition, Dallas; American Negro
Exposition, Chicago; City College of New York; La Jolla
Art Museum. Collections: Howard University; Harmon
Foundation; Barnett- Aden Collection; Wood River Post
Office; Evansville State Hospital; Chicago Public Library;
Ryerson School, Doolittle School, Chicago; Nichols School,
Evanston. Illinois; National Archives; New York Public Libra¬
ry, Schomburg Collection. Awarded Gold Medal, Harmon
Foundation; Frank J. Logan Medal; J.N. Eisendrath Prize.

I. RICE PEREIRA

Painter. American. Bom in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1907;
died in 1972. Studied at the Academie Modeme, Paris;
Art Students League of New York. Selected Exhibits:
Museum of Modem Art, New York City; San Francisco
Museum; Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Dayton
Art Institute; Whitney Museum of American Art, New
York City; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.;
“1 Sao Paulo Bienal,” Sao Paulo, Brazil; Musee d’Art
Modeme, Paris; “Venice Biennale,” Venice, Italy; “100
Years of American Painting,” Tate Gallery, London; Insti¬
tute of Contemporary Art, London; Museum fur Volker-
kunde, Berlin; Honolulu Academy of Fine Arts; Royal
Academy of Arts, London; Municipal Gallery of Art,
Dublin; Musee d'Art de La Ville, Paris. Collections: Addi¬
son Gallery of Art; Art Institute of Chicago; Baltimore
Museum of Art; Bamett-Aden Collection; Boston Museum
of Fine Arts; Brandeis University; Guggenheim Museum;
Harvard University; Howard University; Brooklyn Mu¬
seum; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Milwaukee Art Cen¬
ter; Newark Museum; Museum of Modem Art; Phillips
Collection; Phoenix Art Museum; San Francisco Museum
of Art; Whitney Museum of American Art; Worcester Art
Museum.

Her work contains brilliant, carefully plotted blocks,
lines, and dashes done in endless variations with a few
primary colors. The paintings reflect a sense of infinite
space from several points at the same time. Her lines and
broad bands of colors are the dominant surface forms,
which overlap and lead the eye through complex arrange¬
ments to the depth of each painting. Although her work is
abstract and geometric, it is the result of a poetic philos¬
ophy of life which she felt could only be expressed in
this form. She used the scientific concept of man's life in
an immense universe and translated it into artistic poetry.

176

JACK PERLMUTTER

Painter, printmaker. American. Born in New York City,
in 1920. Perlmutter is a self-taught artist. Selected Ex¬
hibits: Terry Dintenfass, Inc., New York City; Agra Gal¬
lery, Washington, D.C.; Jewish Community Center, Wash¬
ington, D.C.; G Gallery, New York City; I.F.A. Galleries,
Washington, D.C.; David Gallery, Houston; Cosmos Club,
Washington, D.C.; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington,
D.C. 3rd and 4th Expos Gravure, Ljubljana, Yugoslavia;
3rd National Invitational Exhibition of Printmaking, Uni¬
versity of Wisconsin, Madison; Anacostia Public Library,
Washington, D.C.; Fine Arts Gallery, San Diego, Cali¬
fornia. Collections: National Gallery of Art; Phillips Col¬
lection; Corcoran Gallery of Art; Bamett-Aden Collection;
Metropolitan Museum of Art; National Museum of Modem
Art, Tokyo; Brooklyn Museum; Carnegie Institute; Art
Gallery of the City of St. Louis; Bradley University; Butler
Institute of Art; Cincinnati Museum of Art; D.C. Teachers
College; Howard University; Library of Congress; New
Jersey State Teachers College; New York University;
Walker Gallery; Tuskegee Institute. Awarded Print Prize,
first International Exhibit of Fine Arts, Saigon; first prize,
Society of Washington Artists; Purchase Prize, 11th Na¬
tional Print Exhibition, Brooklyn Museum.

In Perlmutter’s paintings objects, colors, shapes tumble
down the stairs with you to the city outside and become
part of your experience.

“My own art is very much involved with what I am,
where I belong, all the cities, beaches, boardwalks, and
people of my life. I have a sense of place that comes
through even the most abstract of my works.” (Jack Perl¬
mutter)

“These are my paintings. They are made up of my
constant wonder at the peopled city.” (Jack Perlmutter)

ROBERT PHILIPP

Painter. American. Bom in New York City, in 1895.
Studied at Art Students League of New York with
DuMond and Bridgman; National Academy of Design
with Volk and Maynard. Selected Exhibits: Associated
American Artists Galleries, New York City; Grand Central
Art Galleries, Inc., New York City; Carnegie International
Exhibition of Paintings, Pittsburgh; Corcoran Gallery of
Art, Washington, D.C.; Babcock Galleries, New York City.

Collections: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Brooklyn
Museum; Bamett-Aden Collection; Whitney Museum of
American Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art; IBM Gal¬
leries; Dallas Museum of Art; University of Arizona;
Toledo Museum; Omaha Museum; Wichita Museum; Cor¬
coran Gallery of Art; U.S. Air Force Academy; Norton
Gallery of Art. Awarded Second Halgarten Prize, National
Academy of Design; first prize and Logan Medal, Chicago
Art Institute; first honorable mention, Carnegie Inter¬
national Exhibition of Paintings; Silver Medal, Corcoran
Gallery of Art Biennial; W.C. Osborne Award, American
Watercolor Society.

Philipp began his artistic career early as a portrait
painter. Since then he has proved himself an accomplished
painter in many areas — smiling landscapes, modest still-
lifes, masculine portraits, or youthful feminine figures in
the nude. The interest in the still-lifes centers in relations
of form in these canvases of provocatively grouped objects
in which there is simplicity and clarity of design.

DELILAH PIERCE

Painter, educator. Afro-American. Bom in Washington,
D.C., in 1904. Studied at Miner Teachers College; Howard
University (B.S.); Columbia University Teachers College,
(M.A.); University of Pennsylvania; New York University;
University of Chicago; Museum of Modem Art, Peoples
Art Center; privately with Lois Mailou Jones; Celine
Tabary; James L. Wells; Ralph Pearson; and Jack Perl¬
mutter. Mrs. Pierce is retired from teaching as an Assistant
Professor of Art Education at D.C. Teachers College.
Selected Exhibits: Atlanta University; Corcoran Gallery of
Art, Washington, D.C.; Baltimore Museum of Art; Amer¬
ican Art League, Smithsonian Institution, Washington,
D.C.; “16 Washington Artists,” Anacostia Neighborhood
Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.;
Smith-Mason Gallery National Exhibit, Washington, D.C.;
New Jersey State Museum; Artists’ Mart, Washington,
D.C.; DCAA, Exhibition ’69, 70, 73, Anacostia Neighbor¬
hood Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.;
Black American Contemporary Art, American Embassy
Dar Es Salaam. Collections: Howard University; Eugene
A. Clark Elementary School; D.C. Teachers College;
Barnett-Aden Collection; Smith-Mason Gallery. Awarded
Agnes Meyer 1962 Summer Fellowship to travel and study
in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East; American Federa-

177

tion of the Arts, Museums Donor Program, Purchase
Award; Smith-Mason Gallery Citation; Phi Delta Kappa
Achievement Award for Outstanding Service and Achieve¬
ment in Art and Art Education.

Delilah Pierce is a painter with a special feeling for
New England. Often applying her paint with a palette
knife, she creates colorful, rough-textured effects.

DAN POLUMBO

Biographical data unavailable.

JAMES A. PORTER

Painter, art historian, critic, writer, lecturer. Afro-Ameri¬
can. Bom in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1905; died in 1971.
Studied at Howard University (B.S.); Columbia University
Teachers College; Art Students League of New York;
Sorbonne, Paris; New York Universiy (M.A.); pupil of
Dimitri Romano vsky. Porter taught art at Howard Uni¬
versity for over forty years, many of those years he spent
as chairman of the department. During his years at
Howard, Porter wrote Modern Negro Art , the basic book
for any study of black art. In 1963, he received a $2,500
Evening Star Faculty Research Grant to travel and study
in West Africa. In 1966, Porter was one of twenty-five
teachers to receive the National Gallery of Art Medal at
the White House. Porter spent his life studying and docu¬
menting the history of black art in this country and
throughout the world. Selected Exhibits: Harmon Founda¬
tion; American Watercolor Society; National Gallery of
Art, Washington, D.C.; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Wash¬
ington, D.C.; Museum of Modem Art, New York City;
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Baltimore Museum
of Art; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia;
Howard University, Washington, D.C.; American Negro
Exposition, Chicago; Detroit Museum of Fine Arts; Fine
Arts Gallery of San Diego; Oakland Museum; Philadelphia
Civic Center; State Armory, Wilmintgon, Delaware; Smith-
Mason Gallery, Washington, D.C. Collections: Howard
University; Lincoln University; Harmon Foundation; IBM
Galleries; Hampton Institute; Barnett-Aden Collection;
National Archives. Awarded Schomburg Portrait Prize;
honorable mention, Harmon Foundation; Achievement in
Art, Pyramid Club.

_ ROBINSON

Biographical data unavailable.

JOHN ROBINSON

Painter. Afro-American. Bom in Washington, D.C., in
1912; currently a resident of the Anacostia section of
Washington. Studied at Howard University under Pro¬
fessor Herring. Selected Exhibits: Atlanta University;
Howard University, Washington, D.C.; “16 Washington
Artists,” Anacostia Neighborhood Museum, Smithsonian
Institution, Washington, D.C.; numerous outdoor art fairs.
Collections: Howard University; Bamett-Aden Collection;
Atlanta University; and many private collections.

WILLIAM E. SCOTT

Painter, illustrator, muralist. Afro-American. Born in In¬
dianapolis, Indiana, in 1884; died in 1964. Studied at the
Art Institute of Chicago. In 1907 he was among a group
of advanced students selected to exhibit panels illustrating
the conditions of labor in Chicago. He left Chicago to
study at the Julian and Colarossi Academies in Paris, and
with Henry O. Tanner. In 1931 he received a grant from
the Rosen wald Foundation to spend a year in Haiti
portraying the people. When he returned home he began
a career as a muralist working in hospitals and public
buildings in Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia, and New
York. Scott was known as the dean of Negro artists.
Selected Exhibits: Royal Academy, London; Autumn
Salon, Paris; Art Institute of Chicago; Cincinnati Art
Museum; Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego; Harmon Foun¬
dation; American Negro Exposition, Chicago; Texas Cen¬
tennial Exposition, Dallas; New Jersey State Museum;
Howard University, Washington, D.C.. Collections: works
are in many collections including Herron Art Institute;
Fort Wayne Indiana Court House; Chicago Defender
Newspaper Lobby; Paris Salon; London Royal Academy;
Government of Argentina; John Shoop School; 135th Street
YMCA; National Archives; New York Public Library,
Schomburg Collection; Barnett-Aden Collection. Awarded
Frederick Manus Brand Prize, Art Institute of Chicago;
Gold Medal, Harmon Foundation; Jessa Binga Prize;
James McVeagh Prize; Legion of Honor, Government of
Haiti; first prize, Indiana State Fair.

CHARLES SEBREE

Painter, illustrator. Afro-American. Bom in Madison ville,
Kentucky, in 1914. Studied at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Worked for the WPA (Easel Division) from 1936 to 1938.

178

Sebree did illustrations for Countee Cullen’s book, Lost
Zoo. Selected Exhibits: International Watercolor Society;
Federal Art Project Gallery, Chicago; Grace Home Gal¬
lery, Boston; American Negro Exposition, Chicago; Insti¬
tute of Modern Art, Boston; Howard University, Washing¬
ton, D.C.; City College of New York. Collections: Ren¬
aissance Society; University of Chicago; Thorton Wilder
Collection; McBride Collection; Barnett- Aden Collection;
National Archives; New York Public Library, Schomburg
Collection; Atlanta University; National Collection of Fine
Arts, Smithsonian Institution; and many private collections.

MERTON SIMPSON

Painter. Afro-American. Born in Charleston, South Caro¬
lina, in 1928. Studied at Cooper Union, New York Uni¬
versity; and privately under William Halsey; Robert
Motherwell. Simpson received recognition in the 1950s
when he was represented at the Guggenheim exhibit
“Younger American Painters.” His work in the late 1950s
consisted mainly of landscapes and seascapes in the roman¬
tic abstract expressionist tradition. In the 1960s, Simpson
moved toward more of a theme of blackness, but he
dislikes placing artists in categories according to color.
Simpson is also a dealer in African art through the Merton
D. Simpson Gallery of Primitive and Modem Art in New
York City. Selected Exhibits: Contemporary Arts Gallery,
New York City; Guggenheim Museum, New York City;
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City; Brooklyn
Museum; National Gallery, Paris; Oakland Museum;
Atlanta University; City College of New York; National
Museum of Japan; Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee;
Red Cross Exchange Exhibit, France, Japan. Collections:
Guggenheim Museum; Howard University; Merton D.
Simpson Gallery; James J. Sweeny Collection; Scott Field
Museum; Atlanta University; Gibbes Art Gallery; University
of Massachusetts; Barnett-Aden Collection; Fisk Univer¬
sity; Columbia Museum of Art; and many private collec¬
tions including: Governor Nelson Rockefeller; the late
Duke Ellington; and Mr. Henry Luce, Jr.

ISAAC SOYER

Painter. United States citizen. Bom in Russia, in 1902.
Studied at the National Academy of Design; Cooper Union
Art School; in Paris; in Madrid. Selected Exhibits : Museum
of Modern Art, New York City; Art Institute of Chicago;

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; Corcoran Gallery of
Art, Washington, D.C.; New York World’s Fair, 1939.
Collections: Whitney Museum of American Art; Barnett-
Aden Collection; Brooklyn Museum; Albright-Knox Art
Gallery; Dallas Museum of Fine Arts; Brooks Memorial
Gallery. Awarded first prize, Western New York Exhibit;
first prize, landscape, Audubon Artists Exhibit.

THEODOROS STAMOS

Painter. American. Bom in New York City, in 1922.
Studied at the American Artists School with Simon Ken¬
nedy, Joseph Konzal. Selected Exhibits: Baltimore Museum
of Art; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Bran-
deis University, Waltham, Massachusetts; Philadelphia Art
Alliance; Washington Gallery of Modern Art; University
of Colorado; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
City; Art Institute of Chicago; Carnegie Institute, Pitts¬
burgh; 6th Tokyo International; Guggenheim Museum,
New York City; Museum of Modem Art, New York City;
International Council of the Museum of Modem Art,
touring exhibition, Rome, Brussels, Paris; Marlborough
Galleries, Inc., New York City. Collections: Museum of
Modern Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Whitney Mu¬
seum of American Art; University of California Museum,
Berkeley; New Jersey State Museum; Albright-Knox Art
Gallery; Walker Art Center; University of Nebraska; Mun¬
son-' Williams-Proctor Institute; Wadsworth Atheneum;
California Palace of Honor; Vassar College; Wellesley Col¬
lege; University of Iowa; Detroit Museum of Arts; Tel
Aviv Museum; Phillips Collection; Des Moines Art Center;
Barnett-Aden Collection; Chase Manhattan Bank. Awarded
Brandeis University Creative Arts Award; National Insti¬
tute of Arts and Letters Award; Mainichi Newspaper Prize,
6th Tokyo International.

Stamos’s indefinite shapes are always tied in some way
to nature. His paintings are deeply philosophic and more
suggestive of nature’s mysteries than depictive of her
exact features. In his work, space becomes a positive force
in itself and the brushstrokes take on a life of their own.
Although his work is completely abstract, in appearance,
Stamos says “I believe that art is a child of nature. When
I paint I work usually directly from nature and contrary to
the critics, I am not rediscovering nature, because I never
left it. My abstract idiom is a point of departure for the
expression.”

179

CELINE TABARY

Painter, designer. Bom in Vermelles, France, in 1908.
Studied at Academie Julian, Paris. Ms. Tabary lived and
worked in the Washington area for many years. In 1948,
she and Lois Mailou Jones opened classes for the teaching
of art skills to a twelve-member group called “Little Paris.”
The group held at least six exhibitions a year. Selected
Exhibitions: Dupont Theatre Gallery of Art, Washington,
D.C.; Southeast Washington Exhibit, American Veterans
Committee; Institute of Modem Art, Boston; Washington
Public Library; Whyte Gallery, Inc., Washington, D.C.;
National Academy of Design, New York City; Howard
University, Washington, D.C.; Watercolor Club; Baltimore
Museum of Art; Pyramid Club, Philadelphia; Watkins
Gallery, American University, Washington, D.C.; Artist
Mart, Washington, D.C. Collections: Palais National,
Haiti; Phillips Collection; Bamett-Aden Collection.
Awarded prizes from the Washington Society of Artists;
U.S. National Museum.

HENRY O. TANNER

Painter, illustrator, photographer. Afro-American. Bom in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1859; died in Etaples, Nor¬
mandy, France, in 1937. Studied at the Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Arts under Thomas Eakins; Julien Acad¬
emy; and privately under Jean-Paul Laurens; Benjamin
Constant; Gerome. Tanner’s work was a critical but not
financial success. He had a strong desire to escape the
racial prejudice he found in America, so he moved to
France, where he found success and happiness. “Near the
turn of the century, Henry O. Tanner emerged as an
outstanding artist of international reputation. He achieved
substantial success during his lifetime, and in very recent
years his work has begun to enjoy renewed interest. . . .
Tanner remained in France, where he was awarded the
Legion of Honor. . . . He developed a distinctive style —
restrained, mystical, and scientific in its attention to detail.
Remaining aloof from the abstract revolution that overtook
so many of his contemporaries, he became absorbed in
Biblical themes.” (Carroll Greene, Jr.). Selected Exhibits:
Salon des Artistes Frangais, Paris; Exhibition of the Society
of American Artists; Dunbar High School, Washington,
D.C.; National Arts Club Galleries, New York City;
Century of Progress, Chicago; Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts, Philadelphia; National Academy of Design,

New York City; Universal Exposition, Paris; Carnegie
Institute, Annual Exposition, Pittsburgh; Art Institute of
Chicago; Knoedlers Gallery, New York City; Grand Cen¬
tral Art Galleries, New York City; City College of New
York; Harlem Cultural Council; University of California
at Los Angeles Art Galleries; Howard University, Wash¬
ington, D.C.; Texas Art Museum; National Collection of
Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Col¬
lections: National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian
Institution; Louvre; National Gallery of Art; Carnegie
Institute; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; French
Government; Wilstach Collection; Art Institute of Chicago;
Los Angeles Art Gallery; Des Moines Art Gallery; Phila¬
delphia Museum of Art; Atlanta University; American
National Red Cross; Isaac Delgado Museum of Art; Mu¬
seum of African Art Frederick Douglass Institute; Fisk
University; Grand Central Galleries; Hampton Institute;
High Museum of Art; Howard University; Hyde Collec¬
tion; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Milwaukee Art
Center; Barnett-Aden Collection; Houston Museum of Fine
Arts; Spelman College, Atlanta University; Metropolitan
Museum of Art; New York Public Library, Schomburg
Collection; and many private collections. Awarded honor¬
able mention, Salon des Artistes Frangais; Third Class
Medal, French Government; Second Medal, Salon des
Artistes Frangais; Place of Honor, Salon des Artistes
Francaise; Chevalier, Legion of Honor, French Govern¬
ment; National Arts Club Bronze Medal, Exhibits of Arts
Clubs Galleries.

ALMA W. THOMAS

Painter. Afro-American. Bom in Columbus, Georgia, in
1896. Studied at Howard University (B.S.); Columbia
University (M.A. ); American University. Ms. Thomas was
an art teacher in the D.C. Public Schools and only began
to paint seriously in the latter part of her life. Selected
Exhibits: Howard University, Washington, D.C.; Boston
Museum of Fine Arts; La Jolla Museum of Art; Whitney
Museum of American Art, New York City; National Col¬
lection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington,
D.C.; Baltimore Museum of Art; Corcoran Gallery of Art,
Washington, D.C.; United Negro College Art Exhibition;
Society of Washington Artists; Franz Bader Gallery, Wash¬
ington, D.C.; “16 Washington Artists,” Anacostia Neigh¬
borhood Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington,

180

D.C.; Black American Artists, Chicago; “12 Afro-American
Artists,” Lee Nordness Gallery, New York City. Collec¬
tions: Howard University; George Washington University;
Corcoran Gallery of Art; Barnett- Aden Collection; La Jolla
Museum of Art; National Collection of Fine Arts, Smith¬
sonian Institution; Lee Nordness Galleries; Franz Bader
Gallery; and many private collections. Awarded first prize,
watercolor, Community Art Show; third prize, Howard
University Art Purchase; first prize, Outdoor Art Fair;
honorable mention, Metropolitan Area Show; honorable
mention, Bamett-Aden Gallery.

Alma Thomas “conveys a feeling for beauty in a most
remarkable way. Her canvases are always full of surprises,
sometimes echoing the order of the landscape or of a well-
planned flower garden. . . . But most important, she pos¬
sesses the rare gift of being a natural colorist, one who can
express a particular feeling for beauty, showing fragmented
aspects of form in all its splendor without allowing color
to be reduced to decoration devoid of meaning.” (David
C. Driskell)

“A world without color would seem dead. Color is life.
Light is the mother of color.” (Alma W. Thomas)

LARRY ERSKINE THOMAS

Painter. Afro-American. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, in
1917. Studied at Walter Vincent Smith Museum; Massa¬
chusetts State College; Oakwood Junior College; Art
Students League of New York; Jean Morgan School of
Art; Cairo Museum; Haile Selassie I University, Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia. Mr. Thomas was a teacher for eight
years, and developed comprehensive curricula in technical
illustrating and mechanical drawing for the Ethiopian
Ministry of Education and Fine Arts. He also served for
five years, at the request of Emperor Haile Selassie I, on
the advisory committee for special cultural exhibitions. Of
numerous honors and awards, Mr. Thomas said that he
considers the “crowning” one to be the 1967 one-man
show entitled “Gems of Africa,” jointly sponsored by the
Bureau of African Affairs and the Bureau of Cultural
Affairs of the Department of State. Mr. Thomas joined the
staff of the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum in December
1967. He is currently supervisory program manager at the
Museum. Selected Exhibition: Silver Jubilee Exposition,
Ethiopia; Smith-Mason Gallery, Washington, D.C.; “16
Washington Artists,” Anacostia Neighborhood Museum,

Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; USIA, “This
is Ethiopia,” Ethiopia; U.S. Department of State; In¬
augural Exhibition, Bennett College Student Union,
Greensboro, North Carolina; Wesleyan University, Middle-
town, Connecticut; American International College,
Springfield, Massachusetts. Collections: Haile Selassie I
University; McLaughlin Research Corporation; Ship’s
Lounge of the M.S. Mussilloyd, Rotterdam; Office of Pro¬
tocol, U.S. Department of State; Anacostia Neighborhood
Museum, Smithsonian Institution; Johnson Publishing Co.,
Inc.; Bamett-Aden Collection; and many private collec¬
tions including that of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie
I. Awarded Gold Medal, Silver Jubilee, International
Exposition, Ethiopia.

LAURA WHEELER WARING

Painter, illustrator. Afro-American. Bom in Hartford,
Connecticut, in 1887; died in 1948. Studied at the Penn¬
sylvania Academy of Fine Arts; Grand Chaumiere, Paris.
The portrait of Alonzo Aden was presented to him by Mrs.
Waring as an expression of appreciation for his fifteen
years of museum work and efforts to further the oppor¬
tunities of living artists. Selected Exhibits: Philadelphia
Civic Center; Harmon Foundation; Art Institute of Chi¬
cago; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia;
Howard University, Washington, D.C.; American Negro
Exposition, Chicago; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington,
D.C.; New York Watercolor Exhibition; Negro History
Week, Harmon Portrait Collection, Anacostia Neighbor¬
hood Museum, Smithsonian Institution; Texas Centennial
Exposition, Dallas. Collections: Bamett-Aden Collection;
National Archives; Harmon Portrait Collection, National
Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. Awarded Gold
Medal, Harmon Foundation.

RENA ARNOLD WATSON

Painter. Afro-American. Bom in New York City. Studied
at Howard University (B.A., M.A.); Skowhegan School
of Painting and Sculpture; Rutgers University; Columbia
University; University of Maryland; D.C. Teachers Col¬
lege. Mrs. Watson is an art teacher and department chair¬
man at Spingam High School in Washington, D.C.
Selected Exhibits: Howard University, Washington, D.C.;
Margaret Dickey Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Biennal,
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; District of

181

Columbia Public Library; State Armory, Wilmington, Del¬
aware. Awarded a Meyer Fellowship to study art histor)
and travel in Europe, Greece, and Turkey with Temple
University.

JAMES L. WELLS

Painter, printmaker. Afro-American. Bom in Atlanta,
Georgia, in 1902. Studied at Lincoln University; Columbia
University Teachers College (B.S., M.A.); National Acad¬
emy of Design “Atelier 17,” New York City. Until his
retirement, Professor Wells taught at Howard University.
Selected Exhibits: Philadelphia Print Club; Brooklyn Mu¬
seum; Howard University, Washington, D.C.; Washington
Printmakers Annual Exhibitions; Society of American
Graphic Artists; Smith-Mason Gallery, Washington, D.C.;
Downtown Gallery, New York City; Phillips Collection,
Washington, D.C.; Harmon Foundation; Baltimore Mu¬
seum of Art; American Negro Exposition, Chicago;

D. C.A.A. Exhibition 71, 73, Anacostia Neighborhood
Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington,. D.C.
Collections: Hampton Institute; Phillips Collection;
Barnett- Aden Collection; National Archives; Valentine
Museum; Thayer Museum; University of Kansas; Carl Van
Vechten Gallery of Art, Fisk University; J.D. Rockefeller,
Jr., Fine Arts Building, Spelman College', Atlanta Univer¬
sity; National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Insti¬
tution. Awarded Gold Medal, Harmon Foundation; George

E. Haynes Prize; Honorable Mention, 6th Annual Area
Exhibit; George E. Muth Prize, Washington Watercolor
Club; first prize, graphic arts, Washington Area Religious
Art Exhibition; honorable mention, Society of American
Artists.

“I have followed the career of James L. Wells with
great interest for twenty years. From the beginning I was
impressed by the spiritual intensity of his work. This
quality results not so much from his subject ... as from his
broad humanism that seems to underlie all he does.”
( Jacob Kainen)

“In many ways James Lesesne Wells is phenomenal . . .
During the past forty years, his works have appeared in a
prodigious number of national and international exhibi¬
tions, winning for him, usually and consistently, only the
highest awards, honors, and critical acclaim. . . . His entire
career, which spans a period roughly from the post Harlem
Renaissance to the present, has been characterized by the

same consistency of brilliance and staying power.” (Fred

F. Bond)

CHARLES WHITE

Painter, graphic artist. Afro-American. Bom in Chicago,
Illinois, in 1918. Studied at the Art Institute of Chicago;
Art Students League of New York; Taller de Grafica,
Mexico. Selected Exhibits: San Francisco Museum of Art;
Palace of Culture, Warsaw, Poland; Howard University,
Washington, D.C.; Kunstnerned Hus, Osal, Norway; Push¬
kin Museum, Moscow; Hermitage Museum, Leningrad;
Heritage Gallery, Los Angeles; Boston Museum of Fine
Arts; Wisconsin University; Morgan State College, Balti¬
more; La Jolla Museum of Art; National Center of Afro-
American Artists, Boston; Forum Gallery, New York City;
Pasadena City College; Los Angeles County Museum of
Art; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City;
First World Festival of Negro Arts, Dakar, Senegal;
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. Collections:
Atlanta University; Howard University; Oakland Museum;
Barnett- Aden Collection; Tuskegee Institute (murals);
Hampton Institute (murals); Whitney Museum of Amer¬
ican Art; Federation of Arts; Academy of Arts and Letters;
Long Beach Museum of Art; Library of Congress; Taller
da Grafica, Mexico City; Deutsche Academie der Kunste,
Berlin; Dresden Museum of Art; Joseph H. Hirshhom
Collection; Government of Ghana; Brown Pharmaceutical
Co.; IBM Galleries; National Archives; Golden State
Insurance Co.; George Cleveland Branch, Chicago Public
Library (murals); Syracuse University; Metropolitan Mu¬
seum of Art; New York Public Library; Heritage Gallery;
Fisk University; Los Angeles State University; Central
State University; Dayton (Ohio) Board of Education;
Johnson Publishing Co., Inc.; Boston Black United Front
Foundation; Bakersfield College; Flint (Michigan) Com¬
munity Schools; Illinois Bell Telephone Co.; and many
private collections. Awarded Edward B. Alfred Award;
Purchase Award, Atlanta University; Atlanta University
Award; Gold Medal, International Show, Germany; Pur¬
chase Award, Howard University; Childe Hassam Award,
American Academy of Art; City Council Award, Los
Angeles.

“I use Negro subject matter because Negroes are closest
to me. But I am trying to express a universal feeling
through them, a meaning for all men . . . All my life, Fve

182

been painting a single painting.” (Charles White)

“I like to think of Charles White not just as an artist —
not even as an American artist — but as an artist, who more
than any other, has found a way of embodying in his art
the very texture of Negro experience as found in life in
America.” (James A. Porter)

ELLIS WILSON

Painter. Afro-American. Bom in Mayfield, Kentucky, in
1899. Studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. Selected
Exhibits: Harmon Foundation; Howard University, Wash¬
ington, D.C.; Atlanta University; Detroit Museum; Amer¬
ican Negro Exposition, Chicago; New York World’s Fair,
1939; Albany Institute of History and Art; Contemporary
Arts, New York City; 135th Street Branch, New York
Public Library; African Art Center, New York City; James
A. Porter Gallery of African-American Art, Howard Uni¬
versity, Washington, D.C. Collections: National Collection
of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution; New York Public
Library, Schomburg Collection; Barnett- Aden Collection.
Awarded the Charles S. Peterson Prize for African Poster.

HALE WOODRUFF

Painter, printmaker, muralist. Afro-American. Bom in
Cairo, Illinois, in 1900. Studied at John Herron Art
Institute, Indianapolis; Fogg Art Museum, Harvard Uni¬
versity; Academie Scandinave, Paris; Academies Modem,
Paris; privately in Mexico with Diego Rivera; and privately
with Henry O. Tanner in Paris. Woodruff was employed
as an instructor of art at Atlanta University, where he
greatly advanced the cause of Afro-American art and
artists throughout the South with his initiation of the
Atlanta University annual art exhibitions. Later Woodruff
became professor of art education at New York University,
from which he is now retired. Selected Exhibits: Art In¬
stitute of Chicago; Pacquerean Gallery, France; High Mu¬
seum, Atlanta; American Negro Exposition, Chicago; New
York World’s Fair, 1939; Whitney Museum of American
Art, New York City; Galeries Jeune Peinture, Paris; Los
Angeles Art Museum; Howard University, Washington,
D.C.; Kansas City Art Museum; International Print So¬
ciety, New York City; State Museum of North Carolina;
University of North Carolina; University of Southern
Illinois; Hampton Institute, Hampton, Virginia; University
of Michigan; Tuskegee Institute, Alabama; Kansas City

Art Institute; City College of New York. Collections :
Newark Museum; IBM Galleries; Atlanta University; New
York University; Library of Congress University; Harmon
Foundation; Jackson College; Barnett- Aden Collection;
New York State University; Howard Junior High School,
Atlanta; Talladega Collection; National Archives; Bertha
Schaefer Gallery; Golden State Insurance Co.; Johnson
Publishing Co., Inc. Awarded Purchase Prize, Atlanta Uni¬
versity; Bronze Medal, Harmon Foundation; first prize,
High Museum; second and third awards, Diamond Jubilee
Exposition.

“Each evolutionary cycle of Woodruff’s style is char¬
acterized by the deepening urgency of his determination
to strive for the highest possible level of qualitative excel¬
lence in the mode of expression that he felt most appro¬
priate. Woodruff calls his own shots and aim is correctly
high.” (From the catalog Hale A. Woodruff: Paintings,
Prints, and Watercolors, Morgan State College, May 21
through June 14, 1968)

ANDREA PIETRO ZEREGA

Painter, lithographer. United States citizen. Bom in
Zerega, Province of Genoa, Italy, in 1917. Came to Amer¬
ica in 1933 and settled in Washington, D.C. Studied at
Corcoran School of Art; privately with Don Gaspare
Biggio; Mathilde Mueden Leisering; Hobart Nichols.
Selected Exhibits: Whyte Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Cor¬
coran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Franz Bader Gal¬
lery, Washington, D.C.; Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York City; University of Illinois; Pennsylvania Acad¬
emy of Fine Arts; National Academy of Design, New York
City; Virginia Museum of Art; Carnegie Institute, Pitts¬
burgh; Virginia Academy of Fine Arts; Phillips Collection;
U.S. National Museum; Georgia Museum of Art; Catholic
University, Washington, D.C. Collections: Phillips Collec¬
tion; Barnett-Aden Collection; Tiffany Foundation; Lack-
land Air Force Base; “The Way of the Cross” Chapel of
the Holy Spirit of the Ursuline Academy. Awarded honor¬
able mention, Art Students League of New York; second
prize, figure composition, Washington Artists Exhibition;
first prize for black and white, Landscape Club of Wash¬
ington; Hirshberg Award, Baltimore Museum of Art; hon-
erable mention, 15th Area Exhibition, Corcoran Gallery.

Zerega’s works are fresh and spontaneous in expression.
There is variety in form and method of treatment.

183

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

adams, agatha boyd. Contemporary Negro Arts. Chapel
Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1948.

anacostia neighborhood museum. District of Columbia
Art Association , Exhibition ’70. Washington, D.C.:

Smithsonian Institution Press, 1970.
anacostia neighborhood museum. District of [ Columbia
Art Association , Exhibition ’71. Washington, D.C.:

Smithsonian Institution Press, 1971.
anacostia neighborhood museum. District of Columbia
Art Association , Exhibition ’73. Washington, D.C.:

Smithsonian Institution Press, 1973.
atkinson, j. edward, compiler and editor. Black Dimen¬
sions in Contemporary American Art. New York: New
American Library, 1971.

BEARDEN, ROMARE, and HARRY HENDERSON. Six Black

Masters of American Art. New York: Zenith Books,

1972.

brawley, benjamin. The Negro Genius, A New Appraisal
of the Achievement of the American Negro in Literature
and the Fine Arts. New York: Biblo and Tannen, 1966.

brawley, benjamin. The Negro in Literature and Art in
the United States. Rev. ed. New York: Dodd, Mead,
1934.

burroughs, Margaret, et al. National Conference of
Negro Artists. Atlanta: Atlanta University, 1959.

butcher, Margaret j. The Negro in American Culture.
2nd. ed. New York: Alfred A. Knoff, 1972.

cederholm, theresa dickason, editor. Afro-American
Artists. Boston: Trustees of the Boston Public Library,

1973.

chase, judith w. Afro- American Art and Craft. New York:

Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1971.
city college of new york. The Evolution of Afro-
American Artists. New York: City College of New York,
1967.

clarke, john h. Harlem U.S.A. New York: Collier Books,
1971.

coen rena n. The Black Man in Art. Minneapolis: Lemer
Publications, Co., 1970.

cohen, andrea o., editor. Washington Artists. Washing¬
ton, D.C.: Artists Equity Association, 1972.

dannett, sylvia g.l. Profiles of Negro Womanhood , vol¬
umes I and II. Negro Heritage Library. Yonkers: Edu¬
cational Heritage, Inc., 1964 and 1966.

davis, john p., editor. The American Negro Reference
Book. Negro Heritage Library. Yonkers: Educational
Heritage, Inc., 1966.

dover, cedric. American Negro Art. Greenwich: New
York Graphic Society, 1960.

driskell, david c. Black Dimensions in American Art. New
York: New American Library, 1970.

dubois, william edward burghardt. The Negro Artisan.
Atlanta: Atlanta University Press, 1902. Reprint. New
York: Amo Press and the New York Times , 1969.

fine, elsa honig. The Afro- American Artist. New York:
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1973

gayle, addison. The Black Aesthetic. Garden City:
Doubleday, 1971.

huggins, nathan irvin. Harlem Renaissance. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1971.

jefferson, louise e. Contemporary Art by Afro-Ameri¬
cans. New York: Friendship Press, 196?.

lewis, samella s., and ruth waddy, editors. Black Artists
on Art , vols. I and II. Los Angeles, Contemporary
Crafts, Inc., 1971.

locke, alain. Negro Art: Past and Present. Washington,
D.C.: Associates in Negro Folk Education, 1936.

locke, alain. The Negro in Art. Washington, D.C.: Asso¬
ciates in Negro Folk Education, 1940.

185

NATIONAL COLLECTION OF FINE ARTS. William H. Johnson.

Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1971.

patterson, lindsay, compiler and editor. The Negro in
Music and Art. International Library of Afro-American
Life and History. Under the auspices of the Association
for the Study of Afro-American Life and History. New
York: Publishers Co., Inc., 1967.

porter, james a. Modern Negro Art. New York: Dryde
Press, 1943. Reprint New York: Amo Press, 1969.

robinson, wilhelmena s. Historical Negro Biographies.
International Library of Afro-American Life and History.
Under the auspices of the Association for the Study of
Afro-American Life and History. New York: Publishers
Co., Inc., 1967.

roelof-lanner, t.v., editor. Prints by American Negro
Artists. Los Angeles: Los Angeles Cultural Exchange
Center, 1967.

schatz, Walter. Directory of Afro-American Resources.

New York: R.R. Bowker, 1970.
spradling, mary, eidtor. In Black and White: Afro-
Americans in Print. Kalamazoo: Kalamazoo Library
System, 1971.

weyl, Nathaniel. The Negro in American Civilization.

Washington, D.C. : Public Affairs Press, 1960.
woodruff, hale a. The American Negro Artist. Ann
Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1956.

186

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

OF THE ANACOSTIA NEIGHBORHOOD MUSEUM

EXECUTIVE BOARD

Alton Jones Chairperson

John Blake Corresponding Secretary

Stanley Anderson Vice Chairperson

Almore Dale Treasurer

Richard Jones Member

Terry Coleman Member

Mrs. Helen Allen

Mrs. Theresa Jones

Mr. Donald E. Ball

Mrs. Rachel Lawrence

Mr. Percy Battle

Mrs. Carlyn Bingham

Mr. Ben Davis

Reverend Larry Lewis

Mrs. Della Lowery

Mr. Curtis Magruder

Mr. Nat Dixon

Mrs. Caryl Marsh

Mrs. Annette Doolittle

Mrs. Francis Mason- Jones

Mrs. Isabella Edwards

Mrs. Cecelia Matthews

Honorable John D. Fauntleroy
Mr. Joseph Fenrick Chairperson Public Affairs Committee

Mr. Robert Fields

Mr. Russell Paxton

Dr. Charles Qualls

Mr. Fred Saunders

Mrs. Mildred Jones Fisher

Mrs. Mary Gregory

Mr. Fred Hill

Mrs. Polly Shackleton

Mrs. Lillian Smallwood Chairperson

Education , Research , and Exhibits Committee

Mr. Edward Hope

Mrs. Lillian Smith

187

STAFF OF THE ANACOSTIA NEIGHBORHOOD MUSEUM

JOHN R. KINARD

Director

ZORA B. MARTIN

Supervisory Program Manager
Education Department

LARRY ERSKINE THOMAS

Supervisory Program Manager
Research and Design Department

Charles Mickens

Exhibits Projects Coordinator

James E. Mayo

Supervisory Exhibits Specialist

Fletcher A. Smith

Program Manager , Video Coordinator
Mobile Division

Louise D. Hutchinson

Director of Anacostia Studies

Balcha Fellows

Special Projects Assistant

Carolyn Margolis

Program Specialist

James Campbell

Exhibits Specialist

Michael Fischer

Visual Information Specialist

Audrey Archer

Administrative Assistant

Vashti Hill

Secretary to the Director

Hazelene E. Evans

Secretary , Research Department

Marshall Jackson

Museum Aid

Milton Jones

Museum Aid

188

INDEX

Italic numerals indicate plates; all other numerals refer to pages.

Acheson, Alice Stanley: 163, 1

Aden, Alonzo: 9-11 passim, 18, 153, 154, 156-162 passim, 172,
181, 88, 111

Aden, Noami Barnett: 158, 110
Alston, Charles: 18, 163, 174, 2
Alston, Frank Jr.: 163, 3
Andrews, Benny: 21

Bannister, Edward M.: 11, 12, 17, 19, 160, 163-164, 4, 5
Barnsley, James MacDonald: 164, 6

Barse, - Jr. : 164, 7

Barthe, Richmond: 17, 20, 159, 160, 164, 8
Bearden, Romare: 17-18, 23, 27, 153, 154, 158-160 passim, 164-
165, 185, 9, 10, 11
Bigaud, Wilson: 165, 12
Biggers, John: 165, 13, 14
Blanco, Teodoro Ramos: 165, 15
Bohrod, Aaron: 165-166, 16
Bolton, Mimi Dubois: 166, 17
Bond, Fred F.: 182
Bosa, Louis: 157
Bowling, Frank: 24
Brockman, Ann: 157
Brown, Donald A.: 166, 18
Brown, Samuel J.: 166, 19
Burns, Edward J. Jr.: 13
Butcher, Margaret Just: 23, 185

Calfee, William: 166, 20
Campbell, Frederick: 166-167, 21
Carson, Laura: 11
Carter, Albert J.: 153

Catlett, Elizabeth: 18, 23-24, 157, 161, 167, 22, 23, 24

Chandler, Dana: 21

Chase-Riboud, Barbara: 21

Cicovsky, Nicolai: 157

Comins, Eben: 167, 25

Cornetti, Tony: 167, 26

Cortor, Eldzier: 16, 167, 27, 28, 29

Cousins, Harold: 167, 30

Crichlow, Ernest: 18, 160, 164

Cross, Bernice: 168, 31

Davis, Gene: 168, 32
Day, Thomas: 19
Dehn, Adolf: 168, 33

Delaney, Beauford: 18

Dempsey, Richard: 18, 158, 168-169, 34

Donaldson, Jeff: 21, 23

Douglas, Aaron: 20, 157, 169, 35, 36

Driskell, David C.: 153-154, 169, 181, 185, 37

Dunbier, Augustus: 169-170, 38

Duncanson, Robert: 12, 17, 19, 160

Ealey, Adolphus: 10, 11-13, 154, 156, 158-160 passim, 170, 39,
40, 41, 42

Fagog, D. M.: 170, 43

Farrar, John: 22, 170, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49

Fine, Elsa Honig: 21, 24, 185

Fischer, Michael: 13, 188

Flemister, Frederick: 22, 170, 50, 51

Fontanini, Clare: 170, 52

Freelon, Allan: 170, 53

Fuller, Meta: 20, 160

Gabriel, Jacques: 170, 54
Gaither, Edmund B.: 173
Gallagher, Michael J.: 171, 55
Gates, Robert: 171, 56
Gilliam, Sam: 21, 23, 154-155
Graves, R.: 171, 57
Greene, Carroll Jr.: 155-156, 180
Gwathmey, Robert: 25, 171, 58

Harden, Marvin: 21
Harmon, Helen Griffiths: 164
Harmon, William E.: 20
Hayden, Palmer: 17, 20

Herring, James V.: 10, 11, 18, 153, 154, 156-162 passim, 171-
172, 176, 178, 21, 59
Hobbs, G. W.: 19
Hollingsworth, Alvin: 21
Hunt, Richard: 21

Jackson, Harlan: 172, 60

Jackson, May: 20

Johnson, Georgia Douglas: 154

Johnson, Malvin Gray: 11, 17, 20, 157, 172, 61

Johnson, Sargent: 20

Johnson, William H.: 17, 29, 172, 186, 62, 63, 64, 65
Johnston, Joshua: 12, 17, 19

Jones, Lois Mailou: 11, 17, 20, 23, 156-157, 173, 177, 180, 66,
67, 68

189

Jordon, Dr. Jon R.: 13
Joseph, Jasmin: 173, 69

Kainen, Jacob: 158, 173-174, 182, 70, 71
Keene, Paul: 23
Kersey, Joseph: 174, 72
Kinard, John R.: 9-10, 13, 188

Lasker, Joseph: 174, 73

Lawrence, Jacob: 14, 18, 24, 154, 156, 157, 158, 160, 161, 174-
175, 74

Lee-Smith, Hughie: 23, 175, 75

Lewis, Edmonia: 17, 19, 160

Lewis, Norman: 18, 23, 160, 164, 175, 76

Lloyd, Tom: 21, 23

Locke, Alain: 11, 20, 23, 160, 169, 185

Long, Richard: 172

Loper, Edward L. Jr.: 175-176, 77

Louis, Morris: 154, 155, 158

Loving, Alvin: 21

MacLeish, Archibald: 163
Malkia. See Roberts, Lucille.

Margolis, Carolyn: 13, 19-21, 159, 188

Maril, Herman: 176, 78

Marquez, Dr. and Mrs. Cecil: 11

Mayo, James E.: 13, 159, 188

Mesibov, Hubert: 171

Moorhead, Scipio: 17, 19

Motley, Archibald J. Jr.: 17, 20, 28, 176, 79, 80

Noland, Kenneth: 23, 154, 158
Orr, Elliott: 157

Pereira, I. Rice: 11, 157, 176, 81, 82

Perlmutter, Jack: 11, 161, 177, 83, 84

Pierre-Noel, Lois Mailou Jones. See Jones, Lois Mailou.

Philipp, Robert: 177, 85
Pierce, Delilah: 177-178, &6
Pippin, Horace: 160
Polumbo, Dan: 178, 87

Porter, James A.: 11, 17, 20, 23, 154, 156, 157, 160, 169, 172,
178, 183, 186, 88, 89

Portinari, Candido: 161

Reyneau, Betsy Graves: 157
Richards, Paul: 13, 174
Ringgold, Faith: 21
Roberts, Lucille: 18

Robinson, - : 178, 90

Robinson, John: 178, 91, 92, 93
Roosevelt, Eleanor: 12, 162, 163

Saarinen, Aline B.: 175
Savage, Augusta: 17, 20, 159, 175
Scott, William E.: 20, 178, 94
Sebree, Charles: 178-179, 95
Simpson, Merton: 21, 158, 179, 96
Slade, Roy: 15
Soyer, Isaac: 179, 97

Stamos, Theodoros: 11, 154, 157-158, 179, 98, 99
Stevens, Nelson: 21, 24

Tabary, Celine: 157, 177, 180, 100

Tanner, Henry O.: 11, 17, 19, 30, 154, 157, 160, 176, 178, 180,
183, 101

Thomas, Alma W.: 11, 18, 23, 158, 180-181, 102, 103, 104,
105

Thomas, Larry Erskine: 158-159, 181, 188, 106
Thrash, Dox: 171

Warburg, Eugene: 17, 19

Waring, Laura Wheeler: 20, 28, 181, 109, 110, 111
Washington, Booker T.: 17
Watson, Rena Arnold: 181-182, 112

Wells, James L.: 20, 156, 157, 159-160, 177, 182, 113, 114 , 115
Wheatley, Phillis: 17

White, Charles: 26, 11, 18, 154, 158, 159, 160-161, 167, 182-
183, 116

Wilson, Ellis: frontispiece, 183, 117,118

Woodruff, Hale: 17, 20, 26, 157, 160, 170, 183, 186, 119

Wright, Arthur: 13

Zerega, Andre a Pietro: 183, 120
Zigrosser, Carl: 168

190

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:

The Barnett- Aden collection.

( Smithsonian Institution Press publication; no. 4995 )

Part of the collection of the Barnett- Aden Gallery
exhibited at the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum,
Washington, D. C., Jan. 20-May 6, 1974, and at the Corcoran
Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Jan. 1975.
Bibliography: p.

1. Negro art — Exhibitions. 2. Negro art — United
States. I. Anacostia Neighborhood Museum.

II. Barnett-Aden Gallery. III. Corcoran Gallery of Art,
Washington, D. C.

N6538.N5B37 709'.73 74-31212

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Full text of "Barnett-Aden Collection"

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